NCAA Football 2020-21 Season

While I agree with the idea that players might be safer on campus *right now* that advantage will go out the window as soon as the rest of the students come back.

And if students don't come back to some Power 5 schools, with those schools going virtual only, then it puts the NCAA in even more of a bind with their fiction that the players are students first.

If I was the CFB Czar (and clearly we need one right now) I would basically give in to as many of the demands as possible from the Pac 12 group along with a transparent process towards a true compensation plan for the players.

And then I would bubble the hell up for all of the Power 5.

Instead we'll get none of that now; maybe the SEC, Big12 and ACC actually start a season, but I would be shocked if they can complete one. Note, this does not mean I'm rooting against football, but as others have said, I want the players AND the coaches, their families, the referees (and their families and support staff (their families) all to be as safe as possible if all of those people are going to undertake real life and death risk, just to entertain me.

At this point we are so far off the main timeline that I'm now actually fully expecting the SEC to go it alone, for the Dawgs to beat Bama and be 9-0 after the strangest Cocktail party ever, only for things to then get so bad that the last game and the Championship (National) game to be cancelled.

I mean it would be the most on brand thing imaginable for UGA to finally win a Natty and for it to have the biggest of all asterisks.

I would be interested in looking at healthcare for student athletes, particularly for injuries that occur while playing. When I first learned years ago that they didn't have it, I was very surprised.

B1G and Pac-12 have made their announcements. We'll see what the other 3 conferences do over the next few days.

This of course begs the question.. does anyone actually think people will play football in the Spring? Lets pretend they do... are they going to play the 2021-22 season 5 months after that?

Saban made a decent point recently.

The question shouldn't be about whether or not we have football, but whether or not students need to be on campus. The players are a lot more likely to get it being around the campus with thousands of students than playing football.

But if campus is open, the health care power five teams offer just in their normal monitoring of the players is much better than nothing if there is no season.

manta173 wrote:

Saban made a decent point recently.

The question shouldn't be about whether or not we have football, but whether or not students need to be on campus. The players are a lot more likely to get it being around the campus with thousands of students than playing football.

But there's the rub. If you have football without the rest of students on campus then that's the nail in the coffin for the idea of the student athlete.

I mean, I think it's inevitable at this point that players will get compensation; but that is why we are seeing the contortions by everyone right now about this, and especially the defining silence from the NCAA.

Badferret wrote:
manta173 wrote:

Saban made a decent point recently.

The question shouldn't be about whether or not we have football, but whether or not students need to be on campus. The players are a lot more likely to get it being around the campus with thousands of students than playing football.

But there's the rub. If you have football without the rest of students on campus then that's the nail in the coffin for the idea of the student athlete.

I mean, I think it's inevitable at this point that players will get compensation; but that is why we are seeing the contortions by everyone right now about this, and especially the defining silence from the NCAA.

I think he was going the other way. Not playing without students on campus, but more, we have students on campus, so why would we not do football?

Honestly, this seems like a perfect time to defund college athletics in the same way we want to defund the police. Tear it down and rebuild it it into something not so exploitive. Eliminate every conference and the NCAA and start over.

The reason the coaches and such are scared is that is basically what is happening in slow motion right now. They believe if they wait and ride out the pandemic, the way revenue is generated and shared will be different after. Like the 1%, they are desperately trying to save a dying system because fairness will hurt them financially.

That's what people were saying about the Big 10 all weekend. 13 of the 14 schools are open for all students, how the hell can they not play football?

Without football practice and games, the players are going to be out there in the general population doing stupid college kid stuff and much more likely to get sick.

EKU at Marshall today in what Is potentially the most tragic thing my alma mater has done since that flight is 1970.

And unlike the flight, this is self inflicted.

Stele wrote:

That's what people were saying about the Big 10 all weekend. 13 of the 14 schools are open for all students, how the hell can they not play football?

Without football practice and games, the players are going to be out there in the general population doing stupid college kid stuff and much more likely to get sick.

Yes. I didn't this at the time, but a bunch of Oklahoma players showed up to campus and immediately tested positive - meaning they contracted it while doing something other than playing football, living their normal, unmonitored college-aged lives.

As some players have tweeted "Honestly, we're safer with our programs."

Ugh. It’s the travel and the fact that playing with the disease could be deadly. And students shouldn’t even be there...

I have to say that it makes me furious people are even thinking of kids playing football. What a despicable sport.

UNC, NCSU, and ECU have all had kids back on campus, had breakouts of covid, and now are going online-only the last few weeks. I expect Duke and Wake to follow shortly behind. Not sure how likely ACC season is at this point. Several games already delayed 2-3 weeks to go into previous Bye weeks, in hopes that they have a healthy team a month from now.

Maybe getting the general population off campus and having athletes only will be safer. But most schools didn't think they could do that to start with, special treatment, etc. or they would have just done it.

I was against having no students on campus and having games played. It puts the lie to the whole “student athlete” business. But maybe that would be safer. I don’t know.

Sending kids to college was nothing more than a plot to ensure a complete sh*t show election. Schools went along, because it also got them paid, even though they knew they couldn't do what was being asked. But had they said that day 1, how many students would have chosen to go a cheaper online option.

NORTHEASTERN DISMISSES 11 STUDENTS FOR GATHERING IN VIOLATION OF COVID-19 POLICIES

The students (and their parents) were notified Friday that they must vacate the Westin within 24 hours. Before departing, they were required to undergo COVID-19 testing at Northeastern, with the understanding that anyone who tests positive will be moved into wellness housing at the university until they have recovered, in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

The students have been informed that they are no longer part of the Northeastern community for the fall semester. They have the right to contest their dismissal at an expedited hearing.

Another story said they would not get tuition back, at over $36K a student. The school cleared nearly $400K from them, for doing what people have been predicting they would. If you are 18-22, and have been stuck home for months, what happens when you get a slice of freedom. Boom.

The schools should be the ones getting punished. When they brought students back, they endangered their students, staff, and community. And they didn't do it because they thought they could, they did it to get that money.

Want to something insane?

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EhL0QUZXcAEtGtn?format=png&name=large)

They are predicting that a state that can't seem to social distance is going to suddenly go to town. Might have to do with out death toll projection increasing from 1700 to almost 6000 (Texas is up to a 35K death toll projection). What could they have seen that would make them project that?

IMAGE(https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/09/04/us/college-tracker-archie/covid-college-cases-tracker-promo-1599192201692-master1050.png)

What universities have done is crammed crammed students into a soda bottle, and are now shaking vigorously. Soon, many, many students will be heading home, when the entire damn things collapses.

Where in the world does it make one bit of sense to waste time and energy on sports? It doesn't, unless you value TV sports money more than students.

No way that I would trust Power 5 schools and the NCAA to keep me informed and safe. It's pretty evil.

I can't even imagine what will happen when all the Colleges and Universities shut down and send asymptomatic kids back home to spread even further. I'm guessing this will lead to all but total shutdown oh say just around Election day.

Jayhawker wrote:

Sending kids to college was nothing more than a plot to ensure a complete sh*t show election. Schools went along, because it also got them paid, even though they knew they couldn't do what was being asked. But had they said that day 1, how many students would have chosen to go a cheaper online option.

NORTHEASTERN DISMISSES 11 STUDENTS FOR GATHERING IN VIOLATION OF COVID-19 POLICIES

The students (and their parents) were notified Friday that they must vacate the Westin within 24 hours. Before departing, they were required to undergo COVID-19 testing at Northeastern, with the understanding that anyone who tests positive will be moved into wellness housing at the university until they have recovered, in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

The students have been informed that they are no longer part of the Northeastern community for the fall semester. They have the right to contest their dismissal at an expedited hearing.

Another story said they would not get tuition back, at over $36K a student. The school cleared nearly $400K from them, for doing what people have been predicting they would. If you are 18-22, and have been stuck home for months, what happens when you get a slice of freedom. Boom.

The schools should be the ones getting punished. When they brought students back, they endangered their students, staff, and community. And they didn't do it because they thought they could, they did it to get that money.

Want to something insane?

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EhL0QUZXcAEtGtn?format=png&name=large)

They are predicting that a state that can't seem to social distance is going to suddenly go to town. Might have to do with out death toll projection increasing from 1700 to almost 6000 (Texas is up to a 35K death toll projection). What could they have seen that would make them project that?

IMAGE(https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/09/04/us/college-tracker-archie/covid-college-cases-tracker-promo-1599192201692-master1050.png)

What universities have done is crammed crammed students into a soda bottle, and are now shaking vigorously. Soon, many, many students will be heading home, when the entire damn things collapses.

Where in the world does it make one bit of sense to waste time and energy on sports? It doesn't, unless you value TV sports money more than students.

No way that I would trust Power 5 schools and the NCAA to keep me informed and safe. It's pretty evil.

I've been bingeing Narcos on Netflix while I've been on leave.

I keep thinking, "Who ARE these selfish people that are so greedy they'll do anything for money/power?"

And then I see a college football game is on and the cheerleaders are socially distancing with masks, there are a handful of fans in the stands (so why cheerleaders?), Dan Orlovsky is doing play-by-play remotely and the head coach just ripped down his mask to shout full volume at an assistant coach.


Money, it's a hit
Don't give me that do goody good bullsh*t

TheGameguru wrote:

I can't even imagine what will happen when all the Colleges and Universities shut down and send asymptomatic kids back home to spread even further. I'm guessing this will lead to all but total shutdown oh say just around Election day.

Most state schools won't send their students home even when they go virtual, as that way they don't have to refund their dorm and meal plans.

Also, at many schools, more than half of the students live in off-campus housing and are now locked into leases for the year.

DSGamer wrote:

I was against having no students on campus and having games played. It puts the lie to the whole “student athlete” business. But maybe that would be safer. I don’t know.

Amateurism and the idea of the "student athlete" is at best a zombie concept and schools and the sport would be better off if the players could "major" in football and not only receive appropriate compensation but also gain workplace protections for their lifetime health and well being.

Stele wrote:

I expect Duke and Wake to follow shortly behind. ...

Duke and Wake won't. They both have aggressive testing policies, have taken numerous steps to space out their students and have handled this a lot better than most schools. Their case loads are low, and they haven't had clusters yet. That might change as the weather turns cold a couple of months from now, but right now I'd put several other schools ahead of them in the Who's Closing Next sweepstakes.

Speaking of Wake, they ran a big ad recently in the local Daily Bugle proclaiming the Deacs as the best college football program in North Carolina. Sure, if you only look at the Triangle and Down East and forget the fact that Wake hasn't won more than eight games in a season in over a decade.

App State (five straight bowl wins and one losing season since 19-freakin-93) has been much better for far longer. And you can make the case that N.C. A&T (four Celebration Bowl wins in five seasons) has been better than Wake in recent years.

I live near Wake campus and there's a cluster of idiots having parties every Friday and Saturday night the last 3 weeks. Knowing how important Greek life is on that campus it's a ticking time bomb.

And yes they suck at football. I hope they enjoyed that last Petrino win a couple years ago because they won't beat Louisville again as long as we have Satterfield.

Edit: it's also hilarious to see them so hyped about Gameday. Clemson is favored by 33. It's not about Wake. It's just the highest ranked team playing a conference opponent instead of a group of 5 team.

Prederick wrote:

PEAK FOOTBALL BRAIN

Psychotic

Hahaha. Clemson has outscored Wake Forest 115-6 the last 2 years combined.

If the Deacs score a single TD it will be their best performance in years.

GameDay with an interesting mix of virtual and real today. Cheerleaders and band on the field. As they go to commercial, showing fans in the parking lots, staying in their cars, although Wake announced no tailgating weeks ago. Virtual fans on screen on the sides of the screen intermittently. 4 hosts (and Bear) on site, with Corso cutouts everywhere, hiding on set. Corso is at home on his patio, with cardboard cutouts of the guys. A bunch of signs and cutouts setup in the WF end zone picnic seating area, but no fans inside the stadium.

It's different. But football is actually happening, for now.

Stele wrote:

Hahaha. Clemson has outscored Wake Forest 115-6 the last 2 years combined.

If the Deacs score a single TD it will be their best performance in years.

Another horrible WFU stat this morning. They had never had 4 consecutive winning seasons in the ACC until the last 4 years. Last time they did it was in the 1940s, before the ACC formed. That's why people act like Clawson is their greatest coach ever, even though they haven't won more than 8 games in any of the last 4 years. Just 7-8 wins is the best WF can do.

I'm so-so on Wake. Good for them if they win, too bad if they lose. Wake is my (and everyone else's) second-favorite team.

But when the Deacs out recently and declared themselves to be NC's best football program, I slapped an IPTAY sicker on my car, painted my den orange and renamed my dog Clemson. I think Dabo is kind of a dick, so he's the perfect guy to run up the score against Wake today.

In unrelated ACC news, UVa-Va Tech game scheduled for the ungodly-early date of next Saturday has been postponed to some future date. The reason: The Hokies got the 'rona.

If the game is played at all, it won't be until December. The two teams don't have a common open date until Dec. 12.

Enix wrote:

In unrelated ACC news, UVa-Va Tech game scheduled for the ungodly-early date of next Saturday has been postponed to some future date. The reason: The Hokies got the 'rona.

If the game is played at all, it won't be until December. The two teams don't have a common open date until Dec. 12.

Actually Duke game against one of them moved up to late Sept so there's a date in Oct now.

And also because of this Louisville-Miami next week moved from 330 ABC to 730 ABC game. Cards might get another ESPN Gameday visit.

Sun Belt having a good day.

Or Big 12 having a bad day.

Or both.

Whelp, that sucked. Our offensive line took more injuries, James Blackman was inconsistent. Our receivers dropped lots of passes including a long bomb, and our coaching couldn’t establish a rhythm or a run game.

I am hopeful for the future but this year is going to be a real crap show