The Dominoes Begin Falling

The Ivy League was first back in March.  They cancelled their basketball tournament before anyone else and withdrew their athletes from the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships.  At first it seemed like an overreaction.  As it turns out, they were simply ahead of the pack.

Even after the country came to a sudden halt and all NCAA sports came to an abrupt end, most people expected things would be back to normal by the fall.  Or, maybe I should say, the "hope" was that things would be back to normal.  Because the thought of the football season also being affected, especially after losing the March Madness dollars, was almost too much for Athletic Departments, conferences and TV networks to think about.

That time is rapidly approaching, however, and the landscape is still as uncertain as ever.  Some schools plan on opening as scheduled in the fall (with appropriate measures, of course).  Others will only have some students on campus.  Still others will start later and finish the semester at Thanksgiving.  And there are those that will conduct the fall semester entirely online.

So, needless to say, with all those different approaches to reopening, the fall season is obviously going to be impacted.  The NCAA released its "return to play" protocols, but pretty much left it up to the individual schools and conferences.  The Division II California Collegiate Athletic Association was the first to cancel the entire fall season conference-wide, but, for the most part, conferences left it up to their individual members to make their own decisions (and adjust accordingly if necessary).  

A number of them (mostly at the lower levels) adjusted their fall schedules (starting later and ending earlier, fewer games, limiting travel, etc.), while a few announced that they were sitting out the fall season.  Meanwhile, most of the big boys, still hopeful that they'd be able to have an uninterrupted football season, took a wait and see approach.  

Until the Ivy League, once again, became the trendsetter.  On Wednesday, the Ivy Council of Presidents announced its unanimous decision not to participate in any intercollegiate sports--including football--during the fall semester.  They didn't officially "cancel" the season for fall teams.  There's still a possibility that some may be able to compete in some capacity during the spring semester.  

Just like in March, the Ivy League became the first major conference to make an official decision regarding the fall season.  And, just like in March, other conference quickly followed the Ivy's lead.  

Two Power 5 leagues--the Big Ten and Pac-12--will play conference-only schedules this fall.  In all sports.  That means no Notre Dame-Wisconsin game at Lambeau Field.  That means no Iowa-Iowa State.  That means no USC-Alabama season opener.  It also means no guarantee games, which directly impacts those MAC and Sun Belt teams that rely on that pay day.  No decision so far from the ACC, Big 12 or SEC, but you'd have to imagine they'll follow the lead.

What this means for Notre Dame is unclear.  There's speculation that if the ACC goes to a conference-only football schedule, Notre Dame would be included since they're an ACC member in every other sport.  They could potentially fill out the schedule by keeping the Navy game and playing other independents like BYU, but it's also possible that Notre Dame would end up playing only 5-6 games this season as a result of these conference-only schedules (marking perhaps the first time their football independence will really hurt them).

And I'm curious to see what that'll mean for bowl games.  Would it extend to bowls (assuming bowls are able to be played in late December/early January)?  And how do you choose bowl teams?  Because somebody has to lose every game, so, without non-conference games to boost their records, conferences will have more bowl bids to fill than teams with .500 records.

There's a potentially much bigger impact than just football, though.  Large cross country invitationals will have to be replaced with small dual meets against local conference members, which isn't exactly the highest-quality competition.  And does conference-only mean the Power 5 schools won't participate in NCAA Tournaments?  If so, that almost defeats the purpose of even having them.

Although, I have to say, the conference games only approach makes sense.  There's no way to know what kind of testing protocols are in place at schools in other leagues.  It's easier to set and enforce a conference-wide policy, though.  And, if one school determines it's too risky to open (which is an NCAA requirement to return to play) and decides not to participate in a sport this fall, it will affect everyone else the same.  The conference can simply adjust the schedule accordingly.

Everyone understands that this is a temporary solution to a problem that's much bigger than all of us, too.  So, there's got to be some flexibility from everybody.  No one wants to be in this situation.  But they're all willing to do what they need to do in order to get this season played.  Then, hopefully, things will go back to normal in 2021.

Of course, this is all assuming were able to have a 2020 season, which is by no means a certainty.  And everyone's willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that happens.  Because the other option--no college sports at all until 2021--is something nobody wants.