CFB in COVID - Reviewing the 2020 College Football Season
Exactly a year ago today, ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit said he would be ‘shocked’ if college football was played in the fall.
ESPN Analyst Kirk Herbstreit
“I’ll be shocked if we have NFL football this fall, if we have college football. I’ll be so surprised if that happens”
It was a shaky offseason. In May, the NCAA announced there would be no mandated start for the 2020 college football season, instead the start date would be up to state and university presidents. Summer brought pessimism as many of the top programs, such as LSU and Clemson, had 20+ players quarantined to due positive COVID-19 tests or contact tracing. On July 9th, the first domino fell as the Ivy League canceled all fall sports for 2020. A day later, the Big Ten announced it would play an all-conference schedule and every power 5 conference followed (ACC and Big 12 allowed non-conference games, Pac-12 implemented the same rule later in the season). Virginia Tech CB Caleb Farley, Penn State LB Micah Parsons, LSU WR Ja’Marr Chase, and Oregon OT Penei Sewell were some of the top players to opt out of the season. If there were any questions regarding the players’ thoughts on whether or not there should be a season, they were answered with the #WeWantToPlay movement where many of the top players voiced their opinion in favor of having a season. On August 11, both the Big Ten and Pac-12 canceled the fall season and looked to postpone the season to the spring. A month later, however, both conferences voted to play in the fall (Big Ten started on October 24th, Pac-12 on November 7th).
Clemson star QB Trevor Lawrence
The first game played was an FCS matchup, featuring Austin Peay and Central Arkansas, on ESPN. Labor Day weekend, which was supposed to be week 1 in a normal season, brought an entertaining slate of games, without a single power five school playing. The first game between two power five schools came on September 12th, when the ACC opened conference play. September gave us a sneak peak of what to expect, as we saw cancellations week after week and stadiums with limited capacity. Houston was heavily impacted by the coronavirus when they saw their season opener get canceled for a fifth time. September 26th welcomed the SEC to play and by November 7th all power five conferences were in action.
Alabama WR DeVonta Smith
In a flexible season with rules constantly changing, controversy is bound to follow suit. When the Big Ten made its return for an 8 game season, a team had to play at least 6 games in order to qualify for the conference championship game, simply put. Ohio State, who had been the favorite all season long, faced some COVID struggles and had three games canceled over the course of the season, making them ineligible for the conference championship game. However, a day after ‘The Game’ got canceled, the Big Ten dropped the minimum game requirement, making 5-0 Ohio State eligible for the Big Ten championship game and keeping their playoff hopes alive. They would go on to beat Northwestern 22-10 and finish 3rd in the final college football playoff rankings. Staying in the state of Ohio, the Cincinnati Bearcats were ranked 13th in the week 2 AP poll. By November 21st, the Bearcats had an 8-0 record and were slotted at #7 in the first college football playoff rankings, the highest a group of five team has ever been ranked in the playoff era. They had a few games canceled due to COVID, but added their third ranked win before selection Sunday with a victory over Tulsa in the American championship game. In the final college football playoff rankings, Cincinnati came in at #8, behind 8-3 Florida and 8-2 Oklahoma. It has become clear that a group of five team will likely never make the college football playoff, with its current format. The playoff featured four teams we are all too familiar with in Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, and Notre Dame.
Ohio State vs Penn State
The 2020 college football season was one that we will never forget. According to CBS, the regular season saw 139 games get canceled or postponed due to the coronavirus. We didn’t get to see rivalries like Michigan vs Ohio State, Washington vs Oregon, or South Carolina vs Clemson due to positive covid tests and all-conference schedules. One of the weirdest moments of the season for me was when Ohio State went to Happy Valley for what would have been the white out game. Instead, the stadium was almost completely empty apart from the families of the players. With that being said, there are a few things from this strange season I would like to see remain in the sport. The staggered start to the season allows smaller schools to get more publicity and stretches the season out. I would like to see some group of five conferences move their season up a couple of weeks and play games in primetime slots. Give teams more bye weeks during the season and compress the time between conference championship week and the college football playoff. Another thing I would like to see moving forward are all-conference schedules with one non-conference game versus a power five school. It is more entertaining for the fans and would eliminate ‘cupcake’ games. It would have been hard to imagine a world without college football in the fall, so let’s just be happy we got a college football season at all.
