The offseason leading up to the 2020 college football season is probably one rollercoaster that Indiana head football coach Tom Allen would never like to ride again.
It appears that the “rollercoaster” Allen referred to multiple times when speaking to the media over Zoom on Wednesday has finally come to an end— at least, for now.
That’s because the Big Ten conference announced their return to play plans this morning, a decision that comes after the league’s commissioner, Kevin Warren, stated in an open letter released on Aug. 19 that the vote to postpone fall sports “will not be revisited.”
The Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors unanimously voted to begin preparations for the college football season, after last month’s vote in which only Ohio State, Nebraska, and Iowa supported the idea of a return.
However, as the situation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and rapid testing continues to evolve, so does the Big Ten’s decision-making process in determining whether it would be safe enough to hold athletic events within the conference this fall.
“I know it’s been a rollercoaster, and a lot of things have happened these past few weeks, but I feel like we’ve got a great plan in place,” Allen said on Wednesday.
According to the Big Ten’s medical adoption plan, all team personnel— players, coaches, trainers— will be required to undergo daily antigen testing prior to practicing or beginning football activities each day.
The plan states that should a player test positive, they will be prohibited from playing in a game until 21 days following the diagnosis.
Per the Food and Drug Administration’s explanation on a COVID-19 antigen test, this is a form of “rapid” testing in which cotton swabs are placed up through the nasal cavity that would pick up any potential proteins “found on or within the virus” that would lead to a positive test result when the diagnostic is run.
“When you look at the medical plan that has been put in place, the thoroughness of it is impressive. The daily, rapid testing that we are now requiring, it is a game changer,” Allen said. “It’s completely changed from where we were five weeks ago, we didn’t have that.”
Allen said that beginning on Thursday, in coordination with Indiana Athletic Director, Scott Dolson, and Indiana University President, Michael McRobbie, daily antigen testing protocols would be put in place. This news puts Indiana ahead of the Big Ten’s medical plan by nearly two weeks, which stated that the daily testing would begin by Sept. 30— a date in which the conference plans on bringing in their own testing kits, which will ultimately replace Indiana’s current “in-house” testing for the football program.
The ACC, which kicked off their college football season this past weekend, came out with a medical plan prior to the start of the season in which all team personnel would receive three tests per week.
The SEC, which will begin playing games on Sept. 26, also has publicly announced that they will be requiring three tests per week for all team personnel. On Tuesday, LSU head football coach Ed Orgeron told the media that “most of” his players have contracted COVID-19. This, of course, would be a nightmare situation for the Big Ten.
Although the full details of the Big Ten schedule remain unclear, Allen says that the tentative plan is to play nine games—six of which would come from Indiana’s division in the Big Ten East: Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, and Rutgers. For the remaining three games, at least two would be “cross-division” games coming from the pool of teams in the Big Ten West, and the other game is to be determined.
With the Big Ten planning on beginning play during the weekend of Oct. 23/24, a season of nine consecutive games without a bye week would lead to the final slate of the conference’s regular season games wrapping up during the weekend of Dec. 18/19.
Last year, the college football bowl season’s first games were played on the third Saturday of December— right when the final games for Big Ten teams are scheduled to occur.
However, Allen believes that the new schedule will not affect his team’s or any team in the Big Ten’s chances to play in a particular bowl game.
“We will be in play for all the bowl games that are out there for our conference,” Allen said. “And who knows, there may be more opportunities because of some other conferences not playing in the fall.”
The Big Ten’s news to play college football this fall means that only the Pac-12 conference has yet to announce plans on a start-date to begin their season. However, a mid-to-late November return has been in discussion for the league.
President Donald Trump congratulated the Big Ten with a tweet on Wednesday after the league’s announcement was released.
“I just spoke with the President, and he wanted to thank Kevin Warren, and all of the players, parents, coaches and fans who wanted more than anything to play football,” White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said at her availability Wednesday afternoon.
To this point, no players on Indiana’s roster have opted out of the season, according to Allen. Speculation of players opting out comes after high-profile Big Ten prospects have voiced their decisions on sitting out, should the Big Ten end up having a season.
“I think our guys are pretty locked in and believe in what we are doing,” Allen said. “They’re excited to play together and now we're excited to get that chance.
"We had a practice already this morning, it was already scheduled, but it had a little bit different level of energy, understandably so. We are excited to be back... you could tell pretty quickly there was a different bounce in their step so they're just excited."
Details on the status of additional fall sports in the Big Ten have not been announced, but Warren said on Big Ten Network that an announcement on all other athletic events will be released soon.
To read the full transcript from Wednesday’s press conference with Allen, click here.
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