Big Ten considering Thanksgiving week start date for college football season, reports say
As pressure continues to mount on the Big Ten and Commissioner Kevin Warren for postponing the fall college football season, the conference’s football coaches have been working on a revised schedule.
On Friday, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel first reported that a new option was brought to the table in discussions: starting a Big Ten season of at least eight games the week of Thanksgiving. Reports earlier this month indicated that league officials were working on a plan to play an eight-game season starting in January.
Though a few Big Ten coaches have been persistent in trying to get the conference to go back to a traditional schedule, Warren and other decision-makers have made it clear that is not happening, according to several reports. Yahoo Sports reported that some Big Ten coaches met Friday morning to discuss scheduling options for the season, with options for start dates including Thanksgiving week, New Year’s Day, mid-January and post Super Bowl.
The Journal-Sentinel’s report notes that this news of a possible earlier-than-anticipated season start date comes one day after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted emergency approval for a rapid antigen test designed by Abbott Labs. The test is expected to cost $5, with results available in just 15 minutes without the sample being sent to a lab.
Several coaches across the Big Ten have expressed interest in a winter season as opposed to a spring season, in order to avoid altering the fall 2021 season. Penn State head coach James Franklin made this point on a Zoom conference call with reporters last week.
“The later you go into the year, that’s going to start to impact the following season,” he said. “It’s going to have an impact on that in terms of too many games in too short a period of time, in terms of injury, enough time for guys to get healthy, for injury prevention, for the right amount of training we have to do beforehand to be ready to compete — all of those things.”
A team spokesperson said Penn State did not have comment regarding the reports of a Big Ten coaches meeting Friday or the conference’s potential plans for the season.
Aside from the internal push on the Big Ten from coaches, players and their parents have also voiced their frustrations. A group of Big Ten football parents — called #B1GparentsUNITED — wrote a letter to Warren on Wednesday, demanding more transparency on the process of rescheduling the season. And on Thursday, eight Nebraska football players filed a lawsuit against the Big Ten, seeking a reversal of the league’s decision to postpone the fall football season.
Even though coaches may be in favor of an earlier start to the season, it was Big Ten presidents and chancellors who collectively made the decision to postpone the season. It’s likely they’ll have the final say moving forward, too.
