favorite football fan
June 22nd, 2020, 04:49 PM
Here are some things to think about.Of course, this is about Nebraska Football. But let's put this as applicable to your team. Just change the names of your players for the players mentioned and put your school in a similar light.
As well, I was talking with a colleague today who teaches in higher education. One thought was that schools are waiting for the student-athletes to get officially enrolled so the schools will know what their budget numbers are and waiting for non-student athlete enrollment, THEN pull the plug on athletics for the fall semester. This makes sense to me and why there is preparation going on with multiple scenarios being formulated that none of us have heard about. Schools are NOT going to release their contingency plans to the public but are/have formulated them. But one plan could be to wait and see what the budgets bring as per total student enrollment, see what the cash flow is, pull the plug on athletics if the numbers do not jive. Of course, there is TV money for the big schools but this will not make much difference if the virus gets out of hand and perception of total safety is not adhered to.
https://www.omaha.com/sports/college/huskers/teams/football/shatel-like-a-storm-coronavirus-makes-college-football-unpredictable/article_240dc14e-61f4-59e2-8153-dd1c71e41217.html
Shatel: Like a storm, coronavirus makes college football unpredictableEven as the positive cases pile up around college football, I think there can be football this fall. But officials should start thinking about a mile outside the box and be extremely light on their feet.
1. Nebraska has 12 games on the schedule. How many will actually happen? Chances are, it won’t look like any football season you’ve ever seen.
2. NU plays at Northwestern on Oct. 3. The Wildcats are at Penn State the week before. What if several Northwestern players bring COVID-19 back and officials decide to shut down the team for two weeks so they can find out how far it spread?
3. What if any of NU’s opponents decide to shut down the season? You’re looking at a schedule with multiple bye weeks.
4. Is a full roster of 85 to 100-plus players really necessary this year? Should college football rosters be more like 50 to 60, a more manageable number to keep track of (with no guarantees)?
5. But what if you lose multiple players? It’s likely going to happen. The bullpen must be ready. If Adrian Martinez contracts COVID-19 in mid-September, he goes into quarantine for at least two weeks. Luke McCaffrey goes in for as long as he’s needed. And so forth down the depth chart.
6. Remember, there’s no putting these kids in a bubble. They’re going to class and will be exposed to all the classrooms, buildings and students and all of their germs.
7. Can Martinez or McCaffrey call plays through a mask?
8. With states facing spikes at different times, is the idea of a 12-game season with long road trips a folly?
9. Might this season turn out to be a series of exhibition games, including Nebraska-Kansas State or Nebraska-Kansas? How about Nebraska vs. UNK?
10. What’s the point? Well, players want to play, coaches want to coach, fans want to watch and athletic directors need money. TV execs might have to do a lot of juggling. The more likely scenario is that schools stick with the schedules on tap, and try to play as many of those as possible. Though I like the one-year idea of Big Ten West games only with a nonconference game or two. An eight-game season might be all you can ask for this year, and it might also be a pipe dream.
11. Stay tuned. Don’t panic. Don’t relax. Don’t make plans. Two weeks ago, things were looking up. NU officials were promising a football season — with fans. The NCAA passed a training session for late July. It felt like we were turning a corner. Two weeks later, positive COVID cases are popping up across the country and in all corners of locker rooms — with LSU and K-State the latest examples.
12. The notion that young folks generally do not get hospitalized or are asymptomatic might be true. But no college administrator is going to take a chance on an extreme case — with a tragic ending.
13. What we don’t know is how all those collisions with young men wearing helmets and pads will translate into the daily COVID numbers. Will the cases triple? Or will impact be minimal?
14. When it comes to germs, you aren’t just playing your opponent. You’re playing against the teams they have played, too.
15. The 10% in budget cuts for NU’s athletic department weren’t a surprise. But if football season gets hit hard, it will be interesting to see how deep Bill Moos dips into that $60 million athletic reserve. And whether the $10 million the athletic department gives to the university goes away. That might need to be considered.
As well, I was talking with a colleague today who teaches in higher education. One thought was that schools are waiting for the student-athletes to get officially enrolled so the schools will know what their budget numbers are and waiting for non-student athlete enrollment, THEN pull the plug on athletics for the fall semester. This makes sense to me and why there is preparation going on with multiple scenarios being formulated that none of us have heard about. Schools are NOT going to release their contingency plans to the public but are/have formulated them. But one plan could be to wait and see what the budgets bring as per total student enrollment, see what the cash flow is, pull the plug on athletics if the numbers do not jive. Of course, there is TV money for the big schools but this will not make much difference if the virus gets out of hand and perception of total safety is not adhered to.
https://www.omaha.com/sports/college/huskers/teams/football/shatel-like-a-storm-coronavirus-makes-college-football-unpredictable/article_240dc14e-61f4-59e2-8153-dd1c71e41217.html
Shatel: Like a storm, coronavirus makes college football unpredictableEven as the positive cases pile up around college football, I think there can be football this fall. But officials should start thinking about a mile outside the box and be extremely light on their feet.
1. Nebraska has 12 games on the schedule. How many will actually happen? Chances are, it won’t look like any football season you’ve ever seen.
2. NU plays at Northwestern on Oct. 3. The Wildcats are at Penn State the week before. What if several Northwestern players bring COVID-19 back and officials decide to shut down the team for two weeks so they can find out how far it spread?
3. What if any of NU’s opponents decide to shut down the season? You’re looking at a schedule with multiple bye weeks.
4. Is a full roster of 85 to 100-plus players really necessary this year? Should college football rosters be more like 50 to 60, a more manageable number to keep track of (with no guarantees)?
5. But what if you lose multiple players? It’s likely going to happen. The bullpen must be ready. If Adrian Martinez contracts COVID-19 in mid-September, he goes into quarantine for at least two weeks. Luke McCaffrey goes in for as long as he’s needed. And so forth down the depth chart.
6. Remember, there’s no putting these kids in a bubble. They’re going to class and will be exposed to all the classrooms, buildings and students and all of their germs.
7. Can Martinez or McCaffrey call plays through a mask?
8. With states facing spikes at different times, is the idea of a 12-game season with long road trips a folly?
9. Might this season turn out to be a series of exhibition games, including Nebraska-Kansas State or Nebraska-Kansas? How about Nebraska vs. UNK?
10. What’s the point? Well, players want to play, coaches want to coach, fans want to watch and athletic directors need money. TV execs might have to do a lot of juggling. The more likely scenario is that schools stick with the schedules on tap, and try to play as many of those as possible. Though I like the one-year idea of Big Ten West games only with a nonconference game or two. An eight-game season might be all you can ask for this year, and it might also be a pipe dream.
11. Stay tuned. Don’t panic. Don’t relax. Don’t make plans. Two weeks ago, things were looking up. NU officials were promising a football season — with fans. The NCAA passed a training session for late July. It felt like we were turning a corner. Two weeks later, positive COVID cases are popping up across the country and in all corners of locker rooms — with LSU and K-State the latest examples.
12. The notion that young folks generally do not get hospitalized or are asymptomatic might be true. But no college administrator is going to take a chance on an extreme case — with a tragic ending.
13. What we don’t know is how all those collisions with young men wearing helmets and pads will translate into the daily COVID numbers. Will the cases triple? Or will impact be minimal?
14. When it comes to germs, you aren’t just playing your opponent. You’re playing against the teams they have played, too.
15. The 10% in budget cuts for NU’s athletic department weren’t a surprise. But if football season gets hit hard, it will be interesting to see how deep Bill Moos dips into that $60 million athletic reserve. And whether the $10 million the athletic department gives to the university goes away. That might need to be considered.