On September 16, the day the Big Ten announced that they would, after all, hold a 2020 football season, Pat Fitzgerald appeared giddily before the media.
“The guys were absolutely ecstatic,” said the beloved head coach. “I’m ecstatic that they have the opportunity, if they choose so, to play.”
His tone could have been much more gloomy, given the bevy of challenges his team was set to face. But Fitz met every obstacle with the same smiling sense of optimism and sarcasm with which he declared that the ‘Cats would return to the Big Ten Championship game toward the end of their disastrous 3-9 showing in 2019.