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The “will we or won’t we” play college football in 2020 saga continues.
After the Big 10 and Pac 12 announced earlier in the day that they will not play football this fall, the Big 12 Presidents decided to forge ahead with the 2020 fall season. The Big 12 was believed to be the linchpin to keeping college football alive, as the ACC and SEC are expected to forge ahead if they have the Big 12’s support.
Sources telling SoonerScoop's @CareyAMurdock and @Eddie_Rado Big 12 presidents will allow conference to move forward toward a season and a revised Big 12 schedule will be released after approval from AD's during tonight's meetings.
— SoonerScoop.com (@SoonerScoop) August 12, 2020
Source: The Big 12 Presidents are wrapping up their call. The league is going to continue to pursue playing this season. A schedule, which was already prepared, will be released in the near future. This confirms what our @rivals friends at @SoonerScoop reported.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) August 12, 2020
The AAC, Conference USA, and Sun Belt are also still moving forward as long as the aforementioned 3 P5 conferences will play.
A Group of 5 update, after the end of a hectic day: AAC, Sun Belt & C-USA continue toward a 2020 fall football season, sources in those leagues tell @SINow.
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) August 12, 2020
AAC presidents met today. C-USA expected to meet tomorrow.
As long as the Power 5s are hanging, I believe they will too.
If you want BYU to play this Fall, this is good news. The Big 10 and Pac 12 were expected to opt out, but had the Big 12 opted out the dominoes likely would have fallen after that.
Who BYU would play, however, is another matter. BYU has Navy, Houston, and North Alabama on the schedule. Expect the N Alabama game to be cancelled due to travel and the FCS likely canceling the season.
Fellow independent Army scheduled Georgia Southern today, so look for BYU to try to play Army.
Army adds home game with Georgia Southern on Nov. 21
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) August 11, 2020
BYU will play any Power 5 team they can, but the majority of the schedule will likely consist of G5 teams from the AAC, Sun Belt, and Conference USA.
BYU is an especially attractive tv option right now since they are one of the only teams (along with New Mexico State and possibly Air Force) west of Texas that has not postponed the season. With the Pac 12 and MWC both off the table for fall, BYU is the only realistic team available to fill late night tv slots. BYU has the contract with ESPN already in place, but BYU could get additional money if ESPN were to incentivize a P5 team to play in Provo. Nebraska, for example, stated today that they want to play this fall despite the Big 10’s decision to postpone.
Regardless, this is a wild time for college football. I am skeptical we get any games and will believe it when I see BYU on the field versus Navy September 7. Although roughly half of the FBS teams have had their seasons postponed, BYU will likely keep keep trying to play this season until everyone else pulls the plug.