Big Ten Reportedly To Play Conference-Only Schedule For Fall 2020
Another NCAA conference seems to have altered its plans for the fall due to the coronavirus pandemic.
A day after the Ivy League decided to cancel all sports for the fall 2020 athletic season, and suspend its winter programs’ start to Jan. 1, 2021, a Power 5 conference reportedly is taking a smaller measure.
But it doesn’t appear we’ll see any Big Ten schools play against non-conference opponents in the upcoming season.
ESPN’s Heather Dinich and Mark Schlabach reported Thursday that the conference’s presidents and athletic directors prefer to keep competition within the Big Ten for all sports — including football — meaning a 10-game, conference-only schedule is the likely outcome.
The decision may be announced as early as this week, per ESPN. Dinish and Schlabach reported the hope is that this would “would eliminate some long-distance travel and help ensure that their teams are being tested for coronavirus universally.”
We’ll see if other big conferences follow in their lead, and if so, the college football rankings will get pretty interesting this year.