The Big Ten went all in — Will the Mountain West follow their lead?

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — The Big Ten will officially be playing football this fall.

After an extremely awkward public dispute — which started when the league announced it would be postponing back in August and has continued throughout — the Big Ten said on Wednesday that the league’s presidents and chancellors unanimously voted to resume competition.

Starting the weekend of Oct. 24, each team has a scheduled eight games over the following eight weeks and concludes with the Big Ten Championship on Dec. 19. If all goes to plan members would still be able to play in the College Football Playoff if a team like Ohio State or Penn State were to qualify. Of course the Big Ten playing in January will be dependent on the rapid testing procedures and COVID-19 protocols holding up. But the decision gives the conference a chance to compete in 2020, rather than sitting on the couch and watching the Big-12, SEC, Sun Belt, etc., all play.

Playing football in a pandemic will be controversial. With so many active cases of COVID-19 in the country, critics will contend that college football is a waste of resources and potentially dangerous for local communities.

However, there is also an argument that if the league can conduct a season safely enough to limit outbreaks, it makes more sense, financially and strategically, to play in the fall.

The truth is we don’t know if things will be any better in the spring, so waiting around is a gamble on multiple levels. Let’s say that the Big Ten decides to stay put while the other major conferences go on to have a relatively successful season. Think the boosters at Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio State and Penn State would be content? What about the players and coaches?

Looking at things from the Big Ten’s perspective, right now they have the advantage of saying we took things seriously by initially postponing until we felt comfortable enough with the procedures to press forward.

If they get through the season, it will appease the crowd that has been pounding on tables to play. But if three weeks from now we find out that college football is just not feasible on a national level, then the Big Ten can come back and say that is why they were on the fence about playing in the first place. Given what they were being told by their doctors, they felt comfortable attempting to give their student-athletes a chance to take the field — especially after such a large group publicly voiced the desire to —but in the end, the health of the student-athletes has been prioritized.

Quite honestly, the Big Ten has positioned itself to be able to sell their decision no matter how the rest of 2020 ends up playing out. After getting mocked by the masses for seemingly being synonymous with chaos over the last six weeks, the Big Ten might actually have played this situation better than anyone else — at least from an optics standpoint.

What about us?

On a local level, now that the Big Ten is playing, the attention obviously turns to the Mountain West and Pac-12. Both conferences postponed play back in August and were exploring formats to play in the spring of 2021. Much like the Big Ten, though, if it is possible to play earlier, can the leagues really afford not to try?

Following Wednesday morning’s announcement from the Big Ten, the Mountain West released the following statement:

“Multiple subgroups within the Conference are working daily on solutions to the existing challenges in order to facilitate a return to play for Mountain West football, and other Conference sport programs, at the earliest possible opportunity. This includes finalizing a plan for frequent, rapid response testing and continuing to monitor the status of public health directives in our MW states and communities.”

Although it’s still somewhat ambiguous, this is a pivot from previous statements, which indicated no desire to compete sooner rather than later. That said, a couple of big questions for the Mountain West still remain. Will there be feasible access to rapid testing? And will all members support an earlier return to competition?

As things currently stand, Fresno State, San Diego State, San Jose State and New Mexico aren’t even allowed to practice due to health ordinances from their local governments.

Air Force always had permission to play Army and Navy. It seems relatively easy for them to shoot north up I-25 and play CSU and Wyoming — especially now that effective this week, the various athletic programs at Colorado State have been given permission to increase activity level.

“Our student-athletes have done a remarkable job following all appropriate health and safety protocols as we have returned to campus,” said Director of Athletics Joe Parker in a press release.

“Under the guidance and approval of the University’s Pandemic Preparedness Team, our return-to-activity plans have been cleared. It is an important step to allow our student-athletes the opportunity to participate in activity as the Mountain West continues to plan and focus on the possibility of a spring competition schedule for fall sports as well as an upcoming winter schedule.”

In total, CSU has conducted 665 tests with 27 confirmed positive cases since athletes returned to campus in early June. What’s encouraging is that according to CSU, the department has reported just one positive test over the last two weeks and currently has zero active cases.

As the Rams attempt to increase athletic activity, training rooms will only be open by appointment, workout group sizes will remain limited, sanitary practices will continue to be emphasized, and student-athletes, staff, and coaches will still be required to wear masks while on campus — which is consistent with university policy.

I’m not a doctor or a scientist — so I’m not gonna sit here and pretend like I know all the answers about how to combat a virus. But I do know that it will be months, potentially years, before COVID-19 is something we don’t have to worry about anymore. If there is an affordable way to play that is both safe and supported by the people that will actually be participating, I’m all for aggressively pursuing it.

Student-athletes at CSU were given an opportunity to opt-out without threat of losing their scholarships and 97 percent decided to opt-in. If it can be done right, those individuals deserve a chance to compete.

So are we playing or not?

Unfortunately, it feels like a long shot that the Mountain West will be able to figure out a plan that will work for the majority of the institutions to be able to play this fall.

With so much going on in California and a variety of other hurdles such as funding, travel and general exposure to the rest of campuses, there are just a ton of factors working against the conference at the moment. Not to mention that unlike the SEC or the Big Ten, where people will protest in the streets if college football is not played, schools in the local conferences are simply not going to have to deal with the same type of public backlash.

At the end of the day, much of what is driving these decisions to play is pressure from the respective communities and the fear of missing out. College football always has been and always will be driven by cash and egos.

Does the Mountain West value athletics enough to try and play with the big boys? I guess we’ll see. According to Brett McMurphy of Stadium, there is some momentum building.

Mountain West “aggressively exploring” options to play 8-game fall season, culminating w/Dec. 19 MW title game, sources told @Stadium. This would allow league to be eligible for NY6 bowls. Not all schools might play w/Hawaii, Fresno & Air Force biggest unknowns for full season

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) September 17, 2020

But if the Mountain West does decide to follow the Mid-American’s lead and stay put this fall, and the other conferences do find a way to make it through the 2020 season successfully, this could very well be the end of the league as we know it. It’s always been an uphill battle for relevancy in the Mountain West. And now, between the lost revenue and exposure, the consequences of not playing could be extremely significant.

As I’ve said since the beginning of the pandemic, I genuinely don’t envy these decision makers. No matter what path they choose, there’s going to be a lot of people impacted in a variety of different ways. For the sake of the athletic department, the players, and the fans, I hope the Mountain West chooses wisely.