NCAA considering the possibility that the college football season could end earlier than scheduledÂ
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At this point, anyone that tells you they know how the upcoming college football season will play out is simply guessing.
Case in point, even the president of the NCAA, Mark Emmert, can’t say for certain how the upcoming fall season will play out.
According to Alan Blinder of the New York Times, who recently reported on a call Emmert made to congressional leaders, the possibilities for the upcoming season remain endless.
During a recent appearance on “The Paul Finebaum Show” as a guest caller, Blinder shared what he knew about Emmert’s call — based on his recent reporting.
“On Wednesday, [Emmert] and a few other sports executives were laying out how the sports world might resume — even amid the pandemic. And one of the options he laid out was that the season could wind up being shorter. What’s important to know is that the NCAA does not have any ultimate authority over scheduling for college football games in the regular season.
“That’s up to the schools, it’s up to the conferences, but the NCAA is at least saying that they see a possibility that the season could be shortened. It could be truncated. You could see conference championship games by Thanksgiving. And frankly, that would line up in some ways because we’re already seeing some colleges and universities say they intend to end their fall semesters by Thanksgiving and not bring students back after the break.”
The key statement from Blinder there is the fact the NCAA cannot dictate the schedule to conferences. So any decision about a shortened season from the NCAA is likely just the organization during what it can to prepare for that scenario.
As Blinder noted, every option for the upcoming season remains on the table — as far as he knows.
“We’ve heard the idea of cutting out non-conference games. We’ve heard, you know, eliminating some games entirely,” Blinder added.
“I would be lying to you if I said I had any idea how many options are on the table. We’ve heard just a bunch of different brainstorms out there and I think it’s impossible to overstate how fluid, all this remains.”
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
