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If you’ve been on Twitter, you probably need a drink. Monday, August 10 may go down as the day that saved the 2020 college football season, if it happens.
With reports of the season’s status changing by the moment, Inside NU is summarizing yet another crazy day on the bird site following a weekend full of news breaking and rumor floating. The B1G, likely the Pac-12, and potentially all of college football appears to be in a holding stage.
It started around midnight Monday. In response to a flurry of rumors being floated via Twitter concerning the cancellation of the 2020 college football season, Clemson star quarterback Trevor Lawrence led a conference call with players throughout the Power Five, which ended by merging the #WeAreUnited and #WeWantToPlay social media movements.
#WeWantToPlay pic.twitter.com/jvQhE7noGB
— Trevor Lawrence (@Trevorlawrencee) August 10, 2020
In a matter of hours Sunday night, Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, Chuba Hubbard and other stars unified to create one powerful college football player movement.
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) August 10, 2020
Inside the star-studded Zoom call to save the season.
From @HenryBushnell ➡️ https://t.co/EbVDmhJnqY pic.twitter.com/PhiVDoVcvW
Here’s the rest of the day, as told by Twitter.
Reports this morning indicated the Big Ten would announce the cancellation of its 2020 season as early as Tuesday morning as every school in the Big Ten other than Iowa and Nebraska reportedly voted in favor of scrapping the season. The Pac 12 appeared to be in a similar boat.
Dan Patrick reports Big Ten had internal vote & by 12-2 margin, league members opted on not having a fall football season. Nebraska & Iowa were only schools that voted to play this fall, @dpshow said. Patrick said Big Ten & Pac-12 would cancel fall seasons Tuesday
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) August 10, 2020
Despite multiple reports the Big Ten canceled the season and is set to release an official decision Tuesday, conference communications director Adam Augustine said no vote by the presidents been taken.
Sources: Big Ten cancels football season; no games for Michigan, Michigan State in 2020 https://t.co/ir96jXjCE1 via @freep @reporterdavidj @ByChrisThomas
— Chris Solari (@chrissolari) August 10, 2020
But clearly the communication between the higher-ups and teams continues to be, well, less than good.
Crazy how we, THE PLAYERS, learn about this stuff from Twitter
— TJ Green (@tjgreenNU) August 10, 2020
We still haven’t heard anything official yet... https://t.co/bfWVwzNb1O
Nebraska, including its politicians, cannot bear the thought of a fall without Husker football.
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) has drafted a letter that he plans to send to Big Ten presidents, identifying reasons why he believes college football should be played.@SINow obtained a copy.
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) August 10, 2020
Sasse is a former university president. pic.twitter.com/xrpRjiWREf
Then Jim Harbaugh became the first B1G coach to come out in support of a season, citing Michigan’s COVID-19 testing numbers as a primary reason for his mentality.
Jim Harbaugh released a statement advocating for the college football season to go on as planned.
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) August 10, 2020
He makes a case for why a season could still safely go on, which includes the program having zero positive tests out of the last 353 administered. https://t.co/DIfZ9Pupw5
Then, of course, the President of the United States voiced his opinion.
The student-athletes have been working too hard for their season to be cancelled. #WeWantToPlay https://t.co/lI3CCKZ4ID
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 10, 2020
It appears the SEC is playing the waiting game until they absolutely have to cancel. Commissioner Greg Sankey chimed in with the following via Twitter. The conference remains in favor of playing.
...Deveoped testing protocols...We know concerns remain. We have never had a FB season in a COVID-19 environment. Can we play? I don’t know. We haven’t stopped trying. We support, educate and care for student-athletes every day, and will continue to do so...every day.
— Greg Sankey (@GregSankey) August 10, 2020
Then came one of the most impassioned moments of the day. After Nebraska finished its practice, Scott Frost spoke to the media, fully supporting playing a season, throwing out the possibility of the Cornhuskers playing football even if the Big Ten doesn’t (which would be complicated). He said he believes all head coaches in the conference want to play, and others spoke as well.
Scott Frost brings up several good points on if you don't play college football. #Huskers pic.twitter.com/cwtIQqKnRU
— Dan Corey (@DanCorey1011) August 10, 2020
Swinging as hard as we possibly can right now for these players!! This isn’t over! #FIGHT
— Ryan Day (@ryandaytime) August 10, 2020
Ryan Day: “We cannot cancel the season right now. We have to, at the very least, postpone it and allow us a little bit of time to keep re-evaluating everything that’s going on.”
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) August 10, 2020
“We owe it to these kids to exhaust every single option we possibly can, and then we go from there."
With regard to the ACC, it appears they’re going to give it a go.
Sources: ACC ADs met today and are "moving forward in an attempt to play," in the words of one staffer. League presidents could be meeting today as well.
— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) August 10, 2020
Then, ahead of a meeting of Big Ten athletic directors, who are surely hearing from players and coaches in one ear and university presidents in the other, ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit insinuated the conference might lean toward canceling.
To be clear regarding @B1Gfootball and their impending announcement-they are looking TO DELAY the start of the season NOT TO CANCEL.
— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) August 10, 2020
There has been a lot of chatter regarding heart complications from COVID-19 post recovery, and that’s providing the latest hurdle to holding a season.
Heart condition linked with COVID-19 fuels Power 5 concern about season's viability - via @ESPN App https://t.co/J5UjlzwzDW
— Heather Dinich (@CFBHeather) August 10, 2020
Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney then held a press conference to discuss the current situation, unsurprisingly saying he wants a season to happen, even after over 30 Tiger players have tested positive for COVID-19 since arriving back on campus.
Dabo Swinney: Clemson’s doctors have been screening for heart related issues.
— Clemson Sports (@ClemsonSports) August 10, 2020
Stop me if you’ve heard the words “fluid situation” used in the last week.
An extremely fluid situation.
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) August 11, 2020
High-up people who think they know what’s going on but don’t actually know what’s going on.
Rumors being passed around as facts on Twitter.
Politicians trying to intervene.
Great to be back covering realignment ... er, fate of football season
We wait until anything is official. Player, coach and public sentiment might have been enough to hold off a cancellation for a day or two. We may learn Tuesday.
News: UofU doctor tells @ESPN700 that #Pac12 medical advisors will recommend to "stop contact and competitive activities at this time" until criteria in place to move forward, including testing protocol - frequency will depend on rate of community spreadhttps://t.co/WFSHGJGQUd
— Jon Wilner (@wilnerhotline) August 11, 2020
#WeAre pic.twitter.com/dsZEGczZ84
— James Franklin (@coachjfranklin) August 11, 2020
Update: starting to feel like delay more than cancel in both B1G and P12. https://t.co/Lf8P6C1emM
— Ralph D. Russo (@ralphDrussoAP) August 11, 2020
Not expecting any news tonight from #B1G, per sources. More meetings in the morning, sources say. In all my years covering Big Ten, can't remember a day when the league seemed more divided (presidents vs. coaches). Certainly could see presidents opting against a full postponement
— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) August 11, 2020
In ways, things have very much changed, while they’ve also stayed very much the same.
Breaking: I am very, very tired.
— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) August 10, 2020