Old Dominion cancels fall football season; will entire Conference USA follow suit?
A second FBS program has decided on its own to cancel football this fall.
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Last week, the University of Connecticut became the first FBS program to cancel fall football this year on its own accord. That didn't have a massive effect on its own simply as UConn is an independent these days. However, on Monday Old Dominion followed suit, and that's important because the Monarchs are part of Conference USA. Will that league be next to shut down completely? The Mid-American Conference did this past weekend, and the Big Ten and Pac-12 will officially announce Tuesday they are canceling fall sports too.
Conference USA's plan had been for each of its 14 programs to play eight league games and that each school could schedule up to four non-conference game at their discretion. Old Dominion was to open 2020 vs. Wake Forest originally and also had UConn on the schedule.
The Monarchs were +10000 long shots at William Hill sportsbook to win the C-USA title. They were 0-8 in conference last year and 1-11 overall, with that lone win over FCS school Norfolk State by only three points. Old Dominion has been an FBS program just since 2014 and Bobby Wilder had been the coach for the past 11 years, but he and the school parted ways last December. He was replaced by former Penn State offensive coordinator Ricky Rahne.
"We concluded that the season – including travel and competition – posed too great a risk for our student-athletes," ODU president John Broderick said in a statement.
The Monarchs hope to play fall sports this spring, pending NCAA approval. Defending champion Florida Atlantic is the +280 favorite to win Conference USA despite recently losing star QB Chris Robison.
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