Big Ten Switching to All-Conference Schedule for Fall Sports
It’s been a hectic week for college sports despite the fact that no teams are in action for actual contests at this point of the year. After all, it’s early July and football usually doesn’t begin until late August with games. Still, we’ve seen the Ivy League cancel fall sports and rule that they won’t play any sports, including basketball, until at least January 1, 2021. The Patriot League pushed their start back until at least September 5. After that, the ACC announced Thursday that they were delaying fall sports until at least September 1, which didn’t affect the football season yet as their first contest takes place on September 2.
Later Thursday, another Power Five conference dropped a bombshell of their own. The Big Ten announced that they were adapting their schedule to play only conference opponents in sports this fall and that includes football. This decision would cut down on travel and focus on the contests that are most important from the standpoint of competition in the Big Ten. In the statement released by the conference, they had the following to say:
"If the Conference is able to participate in fall sports (men's and women's cross country, field hockey, football, men's and women's soccer, and women's volleyball) based on medical advice, it will move to Conference-only schedules in those sports. By limiting competition to other Big Ten institutions, the Conference will have the greatest flexibility to adjust its own operations throughout the season and make quick decisions in real-time based on the most current evolving medical advice and the fluid nature of the pandemic."
It's a major move by the conference, which, thanks to the domino effect, has a direct impact on 36 other programs, 28 of which are fellow FBS schools. While a lot of those programs are proverbial doormats that would be badly outmatched by the Big Ten programs, six schools had two Big Ten foes on the slate this season. While no one was overly concerned about teams like UConn, Northern Illinois, Ball State, Central Michigan or Bowling Green beating a conference foe, there was also BYU in the mix. If nothing else, those schools would have provided good competition for the conference programs to get up to speed and prepare for facing each other.
One of the major blows to the schedule going to just conference opponents is the loss of some major non-conference tilts that were scheduled. Among those games that won’t be played under the all-conference schedule format are Ohio State vs. Oregon in Eugene, Michigan vs. Washington in Seattle, Michigan State vs. Miami in East Lansing and a massive collision that would have been Wisconsin vs. Notre Dame coming to you live from Lambeau Field in early October. The contest between Penn State and Virginia Tech also would be scrapped, taking some marquee contests off the slate.
Sure, you’ll still have Ohio State vs. Michigan, Ohio State vs. Penn State, Michigan vs. Penn State, Michigan vs. Michigan State and the usual games that you have every year on the Big Ten schedule. That’s part of the problem though: while they are marquee contests between bitter rivals that usually are both ranked, they’re games that fans see year in and year out. These big non-conference tilts are important, especially when it comes to working on CFP rankings, because if you beat a marquee non-conference foe like an Oregon or a Notre Dame, it own elevates your stock when it comes to comparing your team with other teams. Without those games, well, let’s be honest: no one is going to be thrilled that you whipped Rutgers 74-6 or cruised past a hapless Maryland program by 40.
While one can understand the thought process that has gone into the decision being made by the Big Ten, it’s going to upset the apple cart when it comes to other teams trying to fill those holes in their schedule which suddenly cropped up. It’s unclear if the Big Ten will play their traditional nine-game conference slate or simply add a 10th or 11th game to the schedule with conference teams. The schedule is to be released at a later date so it’s a matter of wait and see as to what might unfold.
