Will the Big 12 play football this fall? Here’s the latest buzz from national writers
The Big Ten will not play college football in 2020, according to a Monday report from the Detroit Free Press.
So where does that leave the Big 12 in terms of making its own decision on whether play football this fall?
The answer still seems unclear, at least in this current moment.
Dan Patrick, on his radio show Monday morning, reported a source telling him the Big 12 and ACC were both “on the fence” about playing, while the SEC was trying to gain support from another conference to continue with a season.
Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel followed a few hours later with a tweet about the Big 12, saying the conference was “divided” on whether to play, with the potential long-term impact of COVID-19 on athletes surfacing as a major issue.
John Talty, senior sports editor for AL.com, reported Monday through sources that the SEC and ACC remained aligned in wanting to play football in the fall while saying the “whole thing could hinge” on whether the Big 12 decides to join them or cancel, as the Big Ten and Pac-12 are expected to do.
247Sports national columnist Brandon Marcello cited a Big 12 source in stating Monday’s news cycle was “like a pinball game” with so much changing by the moment, while Fox Sports’ Bruce Feldman refuted a rumor that some Big Ten schools could join the Big 12 to play this season, relaying that one of his Big Ten sources said exploring a move like that “would be news to us.”
Stadium’s Brett McMurphy also weighed in on the potential of Big 12 football in the fall, citing sources that said it would be “hypothetically hard but not impossible” to play if both the Big Ten and Pac-12 postponed. McMurphy also cited a different Big 12 source who said that a fall season would be “really hard” based on the feedback some medical directors were giving.
Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby most recent comments appear to be from a Des Moines Register story Sunday night, saying then — among many other things — that there hadn’t been a decision made to shut down football for the fall.
“I’ve literally been on dozens of calls with doctors and scientists, and no one has told us to stop,” Bowlsby told the Register. “We’ll keep trying to move ahead, although it would be less than forthright to sit here and not add that the last 30 days has not gone the way we like. That has to be factored into the decision process. We’ve probably not made progress, but we’ve had no one tell us to shut it down.”
In short: The Big 12 appears to still be weighing its options while also trying to better gauge the safety and viability of potential football in the next few months.
The Big Ten appears to have started a ripple effect. How that directly affects the Big 12, though, remains to be seen.
This story was originally published August 10, 2020 at 2:06 PM.
