https://www.si.com/college/2020/07/29/acc-shrewd-schedule-announcement-conference-only-football
They stressed unity. They had Zoom calls together for weeks, months. They were all in this together, the commissioners of college football’s power conferences, trying to navigate a challenge the likes of which they’d never seen before.
Yeah, good talk.
That was in the spring, when both camaraderie and the football season were easy to envision in the abstract. Here in the heat of July, with time ticking toward a maybe kickoff, they all have reverted to form. Now and forever, it’s every rich conference for itself in college football.
As Sports Illustrated reported Wednesday, the SEC’s athletic directors arrived at a consensus (though not unanimously) regarding a football schedule: like the Big Ten and Pac-12, it would only play conference games in 2020. SI reporters began hearing about the SEC decision around 3:30 p.m. ET. There was no plan by the league to announce anything, since the presidents haven’t yet approved it (and may still not approve it).
With word of that SEC decision starting to circulate, there was a sudden spasm of movement from the ACC. Coincidence? You decide.
The first genius maneuver: The ACC has forced the ultimate bachelor into a full season (at least) of a committed relationship. Notre Dame, a righteously proud independent since it started playing football in 1887, is going to play a full season of conference football and compete for a conference championship. It’s a win-win arrangement: the ACC getting a share of Notre Dame’s prodigious NBC TV revenue and all the accompanying eyeballs on its teams; the Irish getting a full schedule after losing games against USC, Stanford and Wisconsin, while presumably reverting back to normal independence in 2021.
The second genius maneuver: Swofford & Co., beating the SEC on the scheduling news and simultaneously putting the onus of canceling the traditional ACC-SEC rivalry games on that league. By announcing a desire to play one non-conference game but not identifying the opponent beyond saying it had to be played in their home state, the ACC basically threw 100 gallons of paint around the corner and made the SEC stand in it.
We want to play those games. We left open the date on the schedule. If you don’t, that’s your decision. But you’re the ones who have to own up to canceling them.
If Florida State doesn’t play Florida? Blame the SEC. If Georgia Tech doesn’t play Georgia? Blame the SEC. If Clemson doesn’t play South Carolina? Blame the SEC. If Louisville doesn’t play Kentucky? Blame the SEC.
Behind-the-scenes reaction from folks in the SEC later Wednesday? Not pleased. Not pleased at all.
In the power conferences, general stall ball continues to be interrupted by opportunistic bursts of news. Unity was so last spring. The closer we get to a maybe kickoff, the more the sport reverts to what comes naturally: every league for itself.
They stressed unity. They had Zoom calls together for weeks, months. They were all in this together, the commissioners of college football’s power conferences, trying to navigate a challenge the likes of which they’d never seen before.
Yeah, good talk.
That was in the spring, when both camaraderie and the football season were easy to envision in the abstract. Here in the heat of July, with time ticking toward a maybe kickoff, they all have reverted to form. Now and forever, it’s every rich conference for itself in college football.
As Sports Illustrated reported Wednesday, the SEC’s athletic directors arrived at a consensus (though not unanimously) regarding a football schedule: like the Big Ten and Pac-12, it would only play conference games in 2020. SI reporters began hearing about the SEC decision around 3:30 p.m. ET. There was no plan by the league to announce anything, since the presidents haven’t yet approved it (and may still not approve it).
With word of that SEC decision starting to circulate, there was a sudden spasm of movement from the ACC. Coincidence? You decide.
The first genius maneuver: The ACC has forced the ultimate bachelor into a full season (at least) of a committed relationship. Notre Dame, a righteously proud independent since it started playing football in 1887, is going to play a full season of conference football and compete for a conference championship. It’s a win-win arrangement: the ACC getting a share of Notre Dame’s prodigious NBC TV revenue and all the accompanying eyeballs on its teams; the Irish getting a full schedule after losing games against USC, Stanford and Wisconsin, while presumably reverting back to normal independence in 2021.
The second genius maneuver: Swofford & Co., beating the SEC on the scheduling news and simultaneously putting the onus of canceling the traditional ACC-SEC rivalry games on that league. By announcing a desire to play one non-conference game but not identifying the opponent beyond saying it had to be played in their home state, the ACC basically threw 100 gallons of paint around the corner and made the SEC stand in it.
We want to play those games. We left open the date on the schedule. If you don’t, that’s your decision. But you’re the ones who have to own up to canceling them.
If Florida State doesn’t play Florida? Blame the SEC. If Georgia Tech doesn’t play Georgia? Blame the SEC. If Clemson doesn’t play South Carolina? Blame the SEC. If Louisville doesn’t play Kentucky? Blame the SEC.
Behind-the-scenes reaction from folks in the SEC later Wednesday? Not pleased. Not pleased at all.
In the power conferences, general stall ball continues to be interrupted by opportunistic bursts of news. Unity was so last spring. The closer we get to a maybe kickoff, the more the sport reverts to what comes naturally: every league for itself.