Jeff Drummond: I wasn't quite prepared to hear the Ivy League news when it leaked out on Wednesday. Although it did not come as a big surprise, I had assumed a league making this kind of decision would delay its action as long as possible. For the Ivy to make that call one week into July made me wonder if the dominoes are starting to fall.
Less than 24 hours later, we saw the Big Ten announce a scheduling model that will only include conference games, and it sounds like the ACC might be ready to follow suit. There is certainly additional scrutiny on the Power 5 conferences as a result of these moves, even though there are vastly different economic dynamics in play between a league like the Ivy and one like the SEC.
My hunch is that those financial considerations will lead the SEC to hold out as long as possible, but with news of COVID-19 cases on the rise across the country, it makes me far less optimistic that we're going to see a full schedule this fall.
If the SEC decides to follow the Big Ten model, would you have just eight league games, or would the league attempt to play 12 games within the conference? That would certainly be intriguing, although I'm not sure it would be great for the health of the league and its players.
Ultimately, I think we're still in a bit of a "limbo" stage where the situation could change on a day-to-day and week-to-week basis until we get additional treatments and, hopefully, a vaccine.
Justin Rowland: As with everything else in the world of COVID-19 and sports, I'm pulled in different directions. I know that's not an easy soundbite answer but there are a lot of varied considerations, many in tension with one another, and the situation itself is uncertain.
The Ivy League did act early during basketball season and can be viewed as foreshadowing of what was to come. But football is simply more important in the financial aspect of the equation, which along with safety is driving this conversation.
My hunch is eventually all the Power Five conferences will go to conference games-only. That doesn't totally make sense to me because Kentucky traveling to Louisville seems to be easier than Kentucky traveling to Florida, but it probably does simplify the season in some other respects.
If they can play safely then I would love to see at least 10 conference games because Kentucky doesn't see some of those teams from the West very often.
At this point I'd lock into any football we can get in just about any form.
My initial reaction to the Big Ten's decision upon reading some of the reports on social media was, "Okay, deciding now means they're committing to a season." But the actual decision has the big stipulation - "if" fall sports are played.
At the end of the day I believe schools and conferences will decide to play and justify that by saying regular testing and keeping players in as protected and as monitored a setting as possible is the best they can do, and it will avoid the mysterious domino effect that would come with not having a season.
