Lincoln Riley is totally confident weāre going to have college football.
Lincoln Riley expressed great confidence that weāll get to enjoy some college football soon.
Per ESPNās David M. Hale, the Oklahoma Sooners head coach had this to say about whether weāre getting college football or not at some point in the age of the coronavirus.
āI just canāt imagine a scenario [where we donāt explore every option to play],ā said Riley. āWhether itās something we do in the fall, whether itās a shortened season, whether itās spring, thereās nothing we should take off the table.
āRegardless of what we have to do, I donāt think thereās anything we canāt work around and we canāt adjust and canāt make work in order to play college football. Weāve all got to do our part on that.ā
Are we as confident as Lincoln Riley is about a college football season?
What this really boils down to is pretty simple: There is too much money at stake for there to not be a college football season in any capacity. While Riley is one of the few Power 5 head coaches in favor of having a spring college football season, we would all preferably not like to go that route. How will P.J. Fleckās Minnesota Golden Gophers row the boat in two feet of snow in February?
Though the Ivy League and the Patriot League have canceled their seasons, as well as the Big Ten and the Pac-12 opting to go the conference-only route in 2020, Oklahoma plays in the Big 12, one of two Power 5 conferences, along with the SEC, that will play a college football season at all costs this fall if they can. The ACC may join them, but they could go either way here.
As long as testing protocol is the same among teams who are playing each other, whether thatās conference-only or not, college football can happen this fall. Moving it back to the spring must only be used as an absolute last resort. By doing that, players like Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields wonāt play for their respective Power 5 teams, which would be so good for Riley.
Overall, it feels like the conference-only route for the Power 5 will happen. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish will be grouped in with the ACC, as the Power 5 schools will establish uniformity among testing and other protocols to ensure weāll have a college football season this fall. One would think the NCAA should be stepping up here, but when has it been a stand-up organization?
Rileyās confidence in that weāll get college football is not what doomsdayers wanted to hear.
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