STILLWATER – Everyone is speaking out and there seem to be two absolutes when it comes to opinions on the possibility of college football in the upcoming school year, in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic facing the United States and the world. One absolute thing is that while no one knows for sure, everyone wants to have a college football season. The other absolute is that college athletics, to exist in any guise, needs football to fund its operation. There was more information on ESPN’s Get Up show on the subject on Friday that was interesting enough to touch on their topic from yesterday about different regions playing football this fall, while others didn’t. couldn’t because of the pandemic and the coronavirus.
Mike Greenberg and Laura Rutledge are Get Up’s regular co-hosts, but with the COVID-19 pandemic, Greenberg is hosting in Bristol, Connecticut. studios and Rutledge is on Skype.
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Yesterday, co-hosts Mike Greenberg and Laura Rutledge, with Rutledge acting as reporter, floated the idea according to Rutledge that some conferences might play football, while others, the Pac-12 being the most identified, could not.
Former Ohio State and NFL linebacker Bobby Carpenter said his sources at Ohio State told him they plan to play and return as a group to practice as early as early June or maybe -be mid-June.
“People I’ve talked to at Ohio State University think that by June things will start to change and by mid-June people will be very comfortable with everything that’s going on “, was part of what Carpenter said.
Former LSU and NFL defensive end Marcus Spears said the SEC seems very committed to playing football in the fall.
“The SEC, if they can play conference games, they will,” Spears said.
Today the same program followed up yesterday’s discussion with more detail on whether this could be achieved.
Mike Greenberg. who said yesterday that money was a consideration in all of these decisions and should be, was back as the quarterback discussion and asked former LSU and Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive tackle Booger McFarland, if regional play in college football would be a problem?
“I think it’s a huge problem,” McFarland responded. “When you go a little further and you look at the Power Five and the Group of Five and there is no uniformity in college football, it speaks to a bigger problem than the NCAA The coronavirus and the pandemic allow you to have games of “.
McFarland was more conservative in his view of regional college football than fellow LSU alumnus Marcus Spears was the day before.
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McFarland brought up the fact that the NCAA has no way of controlling the entire group. No, the NCAA lost control of college football when it lost television rights to the sport. The College Football Playoff, conferences, and independent schools mostly control college football.
Carpenter explained why it will be very difficult for a central figure to take over major college football.
Former Buckeyes and Dallas Cowboys linebacker Bobby Carpenter has demonstrated a great understanding of current college football politics.
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“Every conference now has its own television network. Every conference has its own television contract and they don’t want to take it and give it away,” Carpenter explained very well. “The reason no one wants to reveal any part of it is because they’re afraid to reveal everything. That’s why the NCAA has lost control, is the conference wants to control how they play and what ‘she wins in her part of the country.
This is demonstrated quite well by all the different comments and opinions broadcast across the country from coaches, athletic directors and conference commissioners.
Just yesterday, the Big 12 Conference announced a 10 percent salary cut for its office, including that of Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby. Bowlsby spoke with ESPN’s Heather Dinich.
“Almost every program relies heavily on football revenue,” Bowlsby told ESPN. “We make a lot of contingency plans, but if you don’t get the number of games planned, you lose the donations, you lose the sponsorships, you lose the gate receipts and you lose the television. That potentially has a very significant impact.
The comments come from a myriad of college football coaches such as Clemson’s Dabo Swinney.
“My preference is to go play,” Swinney said during a media conference call A week ago. “That’s the best-case scenario, and I think that’s what’s going to happen. I have no doubt. I have no doubt that we’re going to play and the stands will be full.”
Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy was a little stronger and more eager to get his team and support staff back before May 1 and his players as soon as possible afterward.
“The NCAA, the university presidents, the Power Five commissioners, the athletic directors need to get together right now and we need to start finding answers,” the Oklahoma State head coach said during A nearly hour-long teleconference that included a 20-minute monologue to start. “In my opinion, we need to bring our players back.”
Gundy isn’t as politically correct, but he is passionate about wanting to have a plan to bring football back when the time comes.
Pat Kinnison – Pokes Report Chief Photographer
Gundy spoke about the monetary need for football, not only for athletic departments but also for local economies.
That and bringing players back with the idea that they were young and could effectively fight the virus was what Gundy criticized the most. He said he wanted everyone in the program, coaches and support staff included, to be tested, creating a clean community.
OU’s Lincoln Riley was more conservative, but just as confident.
“I’m extremely confident we’ll have a season at some point,” Riley said. “It may look different, the schedule may be different, the fans in the stands may be different, the start times may be different. We don’t know, but we have to be ready to adapt.”
Sports directors speak out.
“Everyone needs to start thinking and talking about playing football in September like it’s planned now,” Oklahoma State vice president and athletics director said. Mike Holder said a week ago. “I don’t think delays are the answer. It all depends on the virus, our economy and getting our country back to work.”
Oklahoma State athletic director Mike Holder officially prepared to play on time with the Cowboys’ home opener on Thursday, September 3.
Pat Kinnison – Pokes Report Chief Photographer
Oklahoma’s Joe Castiglione was more anti-regionalist, as he said in a conference call with reporters on April 9. He emphasized a national approach.
“Whatever we decide will be done collectively through our conferences working together,” Castiglione said on the call. “Obviously, these are the types of conversations that I have not only with our ADs in our own conference, but with ADs in other conferences.”
One of America’s all-time greatest sports writers, Blackie Sherrod, had a weekly column and book outlining college football discussions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dallas Morning News
Sportswriting Hall of Famer Blackie Sherrod used to write a column called “Scattershooting” and, in fact, wrote a book of the same name. Right now, Sherrod would be proud of one of the sports he loved covering, college football, because they spread so thin. In a way we all are because we love college football and in the face of what is happening with COVID-19 and without a crystal ball to show us the future, we just want to know that we will have our sport favorite.
In the case of those involved in the college sports business, they want their favorite sport and the money it brings in to pay for everyone else.
