Ohio State AD concerned about the football season because of ‘behavior of our country’
Ohio State football fans are not going to love reading this.
Ohio State is the betting favorite to win the national championship and quarterback Justin Fields is the co-favorite with Trevor Lawrence to win the Heisman Trophy this season. Unfortunately, there may not be a college football season, according to Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren.
“This is not a fait accompli that we're going to have sports in the fall," Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren said on BTN. "We may not have sports in the fall. We may not have a college football season.”
— Kyle Rowland (@KyleRowland) July 9, 2020
Following the Big Ten’s decision to cancel all non-conference games and play a reduced schedule that will consist of only conference opponents, the potential fallout just doesn’t stop there.
Warren cautions there may not even be a season and Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith, who was once cautiously optimistic about the fate of the season, is not really concerned.
Gene Smith isn’t optimistic about the fate of the college football season.
Gene Smith (@OSU_AD) is an optimistic man. He wasn't so optimistic today.
— Ohio State on BTN (@OhioStateOnBTN) July 9, 2020
He joins @BTNDaveRevsine to talk about his concern that there might not be a football season. pic.twitter.com/aUn7kt4QiK
“I’m really concerned,” Smith said, via Ari Wasserman of The Athletic. “When you look at the behavior of our country and in May we were on a downward trajectory, now, if we are not the worst in the world, [we are] one of the worst [countries] in the world.”
"I'm really concerned," said Gene Smith when asked about his optimism that football will happen in the fall. "When you look at the behavior of our country and in may we were on a downward trajectory ... Now, if we are not the worst in the world, one of the worst in the world."
— Ari Wasserman (@AriWasserman) July 9, 2020
Smith once hoped to fill Ohio Stadium with as many as 50,000 fans in the stands this fall but the trajectory has changed since the spring when he was a little more optimistic. It’s hard to ignore the trends that Smith references.
Canceling the non-conference games at the beginning of the season will buy Ohio State and the other Big Ten schools more time to see if the trajectory can change and some positive news will present itself.
Fingers crossed. We could all use it.
No matter how optimistic you try to be about the prospect of a college football season being played uninterrupted this fall, it’s hard to ignore the reality of the real world and the challenges in moving forward.
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