Big Ten could start delayed football season in early January, with title game first week of March
There could be Big Ten football by early January "this season."
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Many Big Ten fans, players and parents of players are not pleased with how fairly new commissioner Kevin Warren handled the conference's decision last week to postpone the football season -- #FireWarren is trending on Twitter. Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields, who had been the Heisman Trophy betting favorite at William Hill sportsbook, had started a petition to reinstate fall football in the Big Ten. While that's not going to happen, there could be football in early January.
On Wednesday, Warren wrote in an open letter to the "Big Ten Community" that "the vote of the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors was "overwhelmingly in support of postponing fall sports and will not be revisited." Most Big Ten fans can't comprehend how their teams won't be playing this fall yet the ACC, Big 12 and SEC are going ahead.
There could be some good news, though, for Big Ten backers: Football in early January. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel was the first to report that the conference is looking at starting it season in early January and would use indoor stadiums in the league footprint – Ford Field in Detroit, Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis are three; St. Louis has a dome that's not being used -- to play some of its games because the weather is obviously not pleasant in most Big Ten markets in the winter.
If the league has winter football to itself – the Pac-12 hasn't made any decisions yet but could follow the Big Ten as it did in canceling fall sports – then it wouldn't necessarily have to play games on Saturdays only. The last day of the 2020 NFL regular season is Sunday, January 3.
Ohio State coach Ryan Day has proposed an eight-game schedule with schools opening in the first week of January and finishing in the last week of February. Penn State's James Franklin has supported that. It would likely be an eight-game schedule with the Big Ten Championship Game the first week of March before the Men's NCAA Basketball Tournament gets going. Penn State athletic director Sandy Barbour said Monday the league could release a new schedule within a week or so.
(If the Big Ten started play the week of Jan. 4, it could play eight straight weeks and then stage the title game March 6 in Indianapolis.)
With that short time window, it's likely that teams would only play eight regular-season games. What this would accomplish, perhaps, is keeping top Big Ten players from transferring or opting out of the season for the 2020 NFL Draft, which starts April 29, 2021. A few top players like Penn State linebacker Micah Parsons, and receivers Rondale Moore (Purdue) and Rashod Bateman (Minnesota) already have opted out for the draft.
The NFL Combine is a huge deal and in February, but the NFL probably would be willing to move that back to accommodate the Big Ten and possibly Pac-12 playing in the early winter.
Also playing in the winter instead of the spring would allow players more time to recuperate to be ready for a full fall 2021 season. "I think the later you go into the year, that's going to start to impact the following season," Franklin said.
What a Big Ten early winter season might mean for the Heisman Trophy is unknown. It's possible the Big Ten does away with divisions in this scenario as well like the ACC has done for 2020.
Needless to say, no Big Ten or Heisman Trophy futures odds will be posted at William Hill sportsbook until a plan is finalized. The site recently reposted odds to win the ACC, Big 12 and SEC.
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