Will MAC Football Be Back?

 Well, it looks like we might have football in October for the MAC.

In fact, it sounds to me like we will, if you read here at The Blade.

I don't know what to make of this...especially with this quote from an unnamed MAC source:

"The optics of being the only league not playing would be incredibly negative."

If that carries through, I guess we can dismiss the idea that athletics teaches leadership.

Because it was supposed to be about protecting the players facing an uncertain risk.  It is still uncertain.  The Big Ten is hanging their hats on the daily testing--which certainly is significant--but the MAC isn't adopting that so that can't be the reason.

Many people have pointed out what a poor idea spring is...especially if you end up playing two 2021 seasons.  But Spring is as flawed an idea as it was when they chose it originally.

So what's changed?

Certainly, you are seeing conferences playing...and it hasn't been as bad as expected.  Yes, there was one game in the ACC postponed, but very early it appears to be a manageable situation. MLB had problems but the NFL seems to be managing it.  (Bubble sports are in a different category).

I don't know how the other schools are doing, but from what I see at BG there hasn't been a terrible outbreak since students came back.  Seems to me like you might have that many cases if everyone was home, but I'm no epidemiologist.

You're going to have things come up.  I saw yesterday that the CDC recommends quarantining if you have been exposed to someone who is positive, even if you haven't tested positive yourself.  That would be a problem on a football team.

And yes, there's the idea that students would be off-campus, but during the long hot summer the idea seemed to be that playing college football on a COVID-emptied campus was the wrong thing to do.  And there's the notion of more cases in the cold weather, which no one knows whether it will happen or not.

All that being said, I have kind of a sick feeling that we're being driven by this....

"The optics of being the only league not playing would be incredibly negative."

Which means we're sending college students out to protect our optics and, of course, our budgets.  The people making the decision take no risks.  (I know many of the players want to do it, but sometimes things the things we want are bad for us).

We have some time to get used to the idea, if this is what happens.  I just think about how many MAC athletes would have to have a lifetime neurological impairment before we'd consider this an incredible folly, and to me, the number is one.

Update:  

Heard multiple times today that a decision was unlikely today. This was mostly informational with the real nuts and bolts of returning to come later. Next meeting TBD, according to the MAC. https://t.co/dNdwSjENiq

— Nick Piotrowicz (@NickPBlade) September 19, 2020