Sorry CoronaBros, Only Three FBS Teams Will Not Resume 2020 Season
What an awful Friday afternoon for the college football CoronaBros.
As the rest of the logical sports universe is anxiously awaiting the return of the SEC, the resumption of the B1G and Pac-12 -- and the madness of all the teams being bowl eligible -- it leaves just three (THREE!) of 130 FBS-level college football teams not playing. UConn and Old Dominion gave its program a self-imposed death penalty for the year while New Mexico State was a very rare Covid death.
UConn, which is located a stones throw from the mothership of manufactured panic ESPN, shut it down on Aug. 5 and has no intention of coming back. The NYTimes reported that the football program was also awash in red ink, sporting a $13M deficit.
“Knowing these young kids — you’re their teachers, you’re their coaches, you’re their mentors," UConn coach Randy Edsall told the paper. "You become the parent away from home and the No. 1 thing is you have to make decisions that keep their health and safety and welfare at the highest level because of the commitment that you have to them and their parents.”
It was made clear by a number of B1G parents that the kids wanted to play -- at least at Penn State and Iowa -- perhaps Edsall was misreading the situation? Perhaps it was a higher edict to curb losses?
New Mexico State was an FBS Independent and with other cancelations lost its season. The program was not part of a Covid panic rather one of the actual Covid casualties as it still had a plan to play but its schedule was beaten down to four games before announcing it could not longer continue.
"This decision was not made lightly," said NMSU President John Floros. "It was particularly hard for many of us who like college sports, and want to see our Aggies play."
Old Dominion was one of the first affiliated programs to announce its cancelation. The Conference USA member shut down in early August, though reading the tealeaves it appears that it wanted to be in front of a wave that has since crashed.
ODU made its announcement at the time when Dennis Dobbs first started to put the word out that prominent schools and power conferences were going to go forward with cancelation.
"As we continue to navigate these uncertain times, our staff will continue to find creative and safe ways to develop our players," first-year coach Ricky Rhane told CBSSports.
Old Dominion was set to open a new stadium this year. It has announced refund and reseating policies for this year.
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