Pete Thamel: B1G vote expected in next 72 hours
Fingers crossed.
Sources: The Big Ten presentation by the Return to Competition Task Force has ended successfully today. The full 14 Big Ten Chancellors and Presidents will meet tomorrow are expected to vote on return to play in next 72 hours. Today is the step before the step.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) September 12, 2020
September 12th, 2020 at 8:17 PM ^
Just mentally prepare yourself for Schlissel to vote no and shut it all down. That’s what I’m doing.
Maybe he won’t, but it’s easier to just accept it now and be pleasantly surprised later.
September 12th, 2020 at 8:23 PM ^
The big ten won’t admit it but all the players and teams that played today are the Guinea pigs. They’ve seen teams play, they’ve seen teams cancel, they’ve seen rescheduling, if they vote to start in late October then they will have a month of college games being played to find out if it’s feasible.
Being cautious was the right approach. Watch the big ten end up being the conference with the least amount of cancelled games and out breaks and still get 10 games in.
September 12th, 2020 at 11:00 PM ^
I always appreciate a Pollyanna viewpoint - but your outcome of B1G getting in 10 games starting in late October (I.e. 10/24) would mean not a single cancellation or bye week for 10 straight weeks, with the last game on 12/26. If the 10th game you refer is to is the B1G championship on 12/26 - we would need a perfect season. I am wholeheartedly hoping you are right! (But am admittedly skeptical)
September 12th, 2020 at 8:35 PM ^
There's 8 voting presidents/chancellors on the task force I believe. If the presentation was indeed 'successful' then that's a good head start to getting 9 votes. I'd guess you'd get 6 yeses from the 8, or at minimum 5.
So you need 3 or maybe 4 from UofM, Maryland, Purdue, Penn St. (Barbour on executive committee), Wisconsin (Alvarez on executive committee), and Indiana.
Schlissel will just go with the commendation IMO, he doesn't care one way or the other. No idea on the rest. The thing that could get in the way is the task force is dominated by sports people vs. medical people.
September 12th, 2020 at 9:16 PM ^
They should televise the vote live on the Big Ten Network, would probably be their highest rated show ever.
September 12th, 2020 at 9:17 PM ^
Not. Going. To. Happen.
September 12th, 2020 at 11:16 PM ^
It will happen. It probably will be a shitshow of a season, but if there were betting odds, it would heavily be in favor of there being a B1G season this fall.
September 13th, 2020 at 12:44 PM ^
Going. To. Happen.
September 12th, 2020 at 9:27 PM ^
Finally some potential good news. The little Faucis need to stand up and admit that they were wrong about this. Remember awhile ago when the British idiot predicted millions of deaths by the fall and then got caught meeting his tinder date?
Remember when the Fauci idiot predicted 100,000 cases per day and at least 3,000 deaths per day? How did all that bullshit work out. I know how it worked out, ask the restaurant workers and hotel workers. Now, apparently, ask the college tennis players.
September 12th, 2020 at 9:49 PM ^
That British model assumed no remedial actions being taken. No closures, mask wearing, etc. We have no idea how bad things would have gotten under those conditions.
Over 2700 people died in this country on April 21st from Covid. 300 more wouldn't have been a stretch.
No idea why I just wrote all that. You don't strike me as a "facts" person.
September 12th, 2020 at 9:33 PM ^
This is a quality post. Great sources and links. Looking forward to a fact based high integrity decision either way.
September 12th, 2020 at 9:55 PM ^
September 12th, 2020 at 10:34 PM ^
Meanwhile, Tarik Black has 5 receptions for 80 yards and a touchdown. Good for him - It must be hard for his former teammates to see him out there!
September 12th, 2020 at 11:01 PM ^
It may be hard, but I have a feeling many of our players are way more mature than the posters here.
That’s why you don’t see very many players whining non-stop like you lot. Sure there are a few outspoken ones, but only maybe 10% were even at the protest last week. It’s telling.
September 12th, 2020 at 11:06 PM ^
He had 4 catches for 80 yards and a td vs MTSU the first game of last year as well. I thought he was gonna hqve a strong season and it slowly went down from there. Wish him the best but they are playing UTEP.
September 12th, 2020 at 11:14 PM ^
Injuries really did him in here. By the time he was finally healthy last year, he just honestly wasn’t very good. Maybe now 2 years off his last injury he has found his groove again and honestly it’s best he found a new home. I don’t know how much he would have been utilized this year. With Nico and Bell and the seeming emergence of Giles and Mike in the slot and Johnson on the outside, I wonder how many opportunities he would have gotten.
September 12th, 2020 at 11:00 PM ^
The only reason they’re convening to vote...is because they feel they have enough votes in place. This is similar to congress, a vote will not be placed on the floor if it doomed to fail from the start. Plus I think John U. has pretty good insight into the way the school is leaning on its vote. If the B1G plays, Michigan will be out there and furthermore all schools will play.
September 12th, 2020 at 11:08 PM ^
If this does happen and a season starts I'm intrigued to see what the schedule will look like. It sounds like the ACC is taking the two teams with the best overall rankings regardless of division. If the Big Ten were to shorten the season and do the same I wonder if that could mean we could potentially play Ohio State two times back to back?
September 13th, 2020 at 10:41 AM ^
Likely an 8-10 game season starting sometime in October, Big Ten championship in mid December to try and get their way back into the CFP convo.
Also...why would Michigan be playing Ohio State in back-to-back weeks?
September 12th, 2020 at 11:15 PM ^
My preference is to play, but to keep the teams in a bubble. Fall classes can be online only and this can be made up with in-person classes in the summer of 2021. This way, you do not compromise education but give the players the chance to play. Solution isn't perfect, but we do not live in perfect times.
That said, if UM decides not to play while the rest of the BIG decides to play, I think this portends to something far greater. If NW and Rutgers decide not to play, no one will care, as they don't have any clout in the league anyways. If a standard bearer decides not to play, this will have a permanent impact on UM's standing in the league, which may lead to UM leaving if it still wants to play high level football and not be in a league that's now run by OSU and PSU.
This is not a joke. Imagine if the PAC12 votes to play but USC opts-out.
September 13th, 2020 at 2:23 AM ^
I think the Chancellors and Presidents will have enough yes votes to start the season October 10th but unfortunately Michigan, MSU, IL, NU, Maryland and Rutgers will be opting out. That will really suck to see half the B1G playing games.
September 13th, 2020 at 5:02 AM ^
Your tally would be an 8-6 vote. 9 ‘Yes’ votes are needed to start the season, so at least one of the 6 you mentioned would need to change their minds to play fall football.
September 13th, 2020 at 6:25 AM ^
Whatever
September 13th, 2020 at 6:27 AM ^
Whaatever...the Season is lost either way. I dont think a Ntional Championship will have a whole lot of value this year..Lets just call it what it is a exhibition season and hopefully get back on track next year
September 13th, 2020 at 6:41 AM ^
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObUZap03j2M
FYI, forget what you think about Clay Travis, but the Ohio AG sounded dead serious when he said in this interview he would sue not only the Big Ten, but also the teams that opted out, if that were to happen. Seems like a strong arm move, and not sure if there is any legal merit, but can you imagine Ohio State suing UM. That would be quite the drama.
September 13th, 2020 at 8:01 AM ^
It's Happening!!
September 13th, 2020 at 12:42 PM ^
LOL. There is no "vote" . . . this decision has already been made. The Big Ten will play.
They know they F'ed up by canceling too early and assuming all the other conferences would just blindly follow them. When that didn't happen, they knew they were screwed.
This "vote" based on "new information" and "new protocols" is just a face-saving technique for a decision they already made weeks ago.
Whatever works. At least they stopped stubbornly riding a loser