Big Ten Coming Back This Weekend

Here are the things that we have learned from the Big 10 coming back and the Pac-12 eyeing a Halloween start date for conference play

· The doctors consulting with the Big Ten changed their opinion. I am assuming they had a good sample size (2 weekends of college football games) and access to rapid testing via the Whitehouse and other sources of rapid distribution. I am guessing the concerns about myocarditis slowly waned once doctors were able to come up with a sounder judgement

· Kevin Warren saved face, and his Goodwill. After protests from presidents, chancellors, fans, A twitter account named Sir Yacht, and Ohio State Linebacker Bobby Carpenter lead a legion of fans to callout administrators for their hypocrisy, Kevin Warren really stepped out to the plate and was able to salvage his reputation and the longevity of the Big 10

· With all of the delay for the revote, The Big Ten shot itself in the foot. The 14 teams will play 9 games in 9 weeks, a conference championship game, and no bye week. This leads to a question about how tie breakers will be solved and if the Big Ten will be eligible for the college football playoff

· Many notable Big Ten Players (Shaun Wade, Wyatt Davis, Josh Jackson, Rondale Moore, Micah Parsons, Rashod Bateman, Ra’von Bonner) have all opted out. However, if these players have not taken any money from agents for the Pre NFL-draft process they are still eligible to come back and play 2020 season

· Big schools and small towns: College towns can finally recoup some of their losses with games coming back, towns like Clemson, South Bend, Tuscaloosa, College Station, Ann Arbor, Columbus, Madison) bars and restaurants can thrive somewhat again

· Although there was a unanimous vote to return, some schools remain conflicted. Northwestern and Rutgers administrators were still concerned about the exponential growth of Covid-19 if there were to be a surge in Evanston or Piscataway

· Rapid testing will allow teams to adjust rosters accordingly. If a play tests positive they will be withheld from football activities for two weeks

· Ironically the Pac-12 helped the Big Ten. The Pac-12 commissioner accounted a partnership with Quidel for daily testing of athletes. However, the Pac-12 is still being heldback with large fires which are damaging the air quality, and UC schools only doing virtual learning

· The Big 10 gave us a course in crisis communications and public relations 101. Keep your stakeholders happy (the fans) and expect blowback when you make private meetings public