August is normally a time when college football fanatics, such as yours truly, are incredibly excited about the coming season. In 2020, color me depressed.
I see little possibility that the 2020 season comes off in a meaningful way. Seemingly each day, another nugget of distressing news drags fans down.
Yesterday, UConn announced the shuttering of its 2020 year. Given that the Huskies have now been orphaned into independent status, the announcement is not a surprise given the decimation of their schedule (Six of their games had been axed as the Power 5 conferences focus on conference football).
Earlier in the week, the staff at Colorado State has been accused of covering up Covid-19 cases and encouraging players to practice despite Covid symptoms. These allegations have been strongly disputed. Could 1st-year coach, Steve Addazio, really be this dumb and insensitive? We surely hope not.
Minnesota’s stellar receiver, Rashod Bateman, is the latest star to announce that he will be sitting out 2020.
The Big 10 schedule was just released yesterday. Rutgers’ opener is against Nebraska on September 5. But will it be played? Rutgers has been inundated with 28 positive tests. The Michigan-Ohio State game has been moved up to October 24. Both teams have a common bye in November if this date becomes problematic. If played in October, the archrivals will play before November for the first time in almost 80 years.
In better times, we could empathize with Iowa. A 10th conference game has been added. Iowa’s reward: Ohio State. Given that the Hawkeyes had already drawn Penn State from the East, Iowa’s path to the Big 10 West title just got steeper.
In better times, we might comment as to how Minnesota’s September schedule, usually quite light, is atypically tough. The Gophers’ first 5 foes: Michigan State, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin and Nebraska.
In better times, the Odyssey would be furious that the SEC vetoed the playing of passionate intrastate rivalry games such as Florida-Florida State and South Carolina-Clemson.
However, we need to be realistic. Even Major League baseball has had issues in its non-bubble resumption. When a ship starts taking on water, …………….
Elle
😩😂😡