The deconstruction of the 2020 college football season accelerated Thursday. Where it ends, we still don’t know. Perhaps in spring 2021. Perhaps there is no ending, because there is no beginning.
The options are simultaneously dwindling and reducing in quality.
The Big Ten pushed us closer to business as unusual with a somewhat jarring announcement that it will play a conference-only schedule. It’s a logical move, but an early one—as one athletic director said, “Why do that on July 9? Why not Aug. 9?” It’s also a depressing move—among the games that will not be played are Wisconsin-Notre Dame, Ohio State-Oregon, Michigan-Washington, Penn State-Virginia Tech and Miami-Michigan State.