Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1276571
F O O T B A L L Big Ten adopts 10-game league-only schedule Will there be college football during the 2020-21 academic year? As July turned to August, the Power Five conferences seemed determined to try. The Pac-12, Atlantic Coast and Southeastern conferences all announced plans for their respective seasons in late July, putting themselves at the forefront of the effort to resume competition. The Big 12 followed suit a few days later, and on Aug. 5 the Big Ten be- came the last of the major conferences to announce its plans, unveiling a 10-game league-only slate that will begin on Labor Day weekend and continue through late November, with the confer- ence title game taking place Dec. 5 in Indianapolis. Under the new scheduling format, Penn State will play all of the nine Big Ten teams it had originally been scheduled to play. The Northwestern, Michigan State, Maryland, Iowa and Ohio State games are set to be played at Beaver Stadium, while matchups with Indiana, Michigan, Rutgers and Nebraska will take place on the road. The 10th game will also be on the road, as Penn State will finish at Illinois on Nov. 21. The schedule was designed to give the league maximum flexibility as it works to pro- tect players, coaches and staff from a pandemic that has not abated to the degree that many college sports adminis- trators had hoped it would when they talked optimisti- cally a few months ago about the chances of playing a fall season. Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren said that the opening weekend for some or all teams could be delayed up to three weeks, while the league title game could be played as late as Dec. 19. In addition, all teams will have two open dates during the season into which post- poned games could be rescheduled. Whether any of those plans are realis- tic is a question that will be answered in the weeks to come as preseason practice gets under way and campuses begin fill- ing up with students, not just student- athletes. In the meantime, everyone in college football has been eyeing the pro leagues warily, mindful that they might be har- bingers of the challenges ahead. The NBA and NHL have resumed their sea- sons, which had been abruptly sus- pended in March. The WNBA and major NEWS & NOTES | HOUSE MONEY Penn State football gener- ated $37 million in ticket sales in its most recent financial report, but the pan- demic will cut sharply into its revenues this year. Photo by Steve Manuel