Week of 6/22

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Back in the saddle again regarding daily news about college football…

6/22:

  • News that hit hard, but was not surprising based on what I have been hearing the last couple of months, Bowdoin College has cancelled its entire fall sports season, which has to be very disappointing for the student athletes. There could possibly be a spring football season if other NESCAC schools follow suit - which wouldn’t surprise me. The seniors are in a tough situation because they would have to apply for an extra year of eligibility before it is known whether or not there will be a spring season

  • The Patriot League announced their guidelines for the return of sports in the fall - including no air travel and overnight travel prohibited - except for a rare occasion. This will lead to a few games against FBS teams will need to be rescheduled or canceled. Changes to current schedules will be announced at a later date. I am thinking that the Ivy League will release a similar statement sometime soon

  • Since Churchill Downs and Cardinal Stadium are located near each other, the NC State - Louisville game has been moved up a day to Wednesday, Sept. 2nd to accommodate the Kentucky Derby. The Thursday before the race, known as “Thurby”, draws a big crowd, so the change was needed to help ease the logistical concerns from this event

  • The Buffalo-Northern Illinois game was moved up from election night to Halloween. Back on June 12th, the NCAA, in wanting athletes to participate in the Nov. 3 election, are encouraging that day as a day off for athletic activities

6/23:

  • West Virginia has placed defensive coordinator Vic Koenning on leave while it looks into allegations of mistreatment by one of his players. Mountaineer head coach, Neal Brown, after speaking with the player, met with his defense, and later the whole team - as well as launching an independent investigation. Brown brought Koenning with him from Troy when he became the new head coach of WVU last year

  • I am always a fan when teams schedule out of conference in-state schools. So it comes as no surprise that I was happy to see that UAB announced home-and-home series with both Troy (2032, 2033) and South Alabama (2030, 2031). The new UAB-Troy series will add to a previously scheduled series that is scheduled for 2028 and 2029

6/24:

  • Liberty is taking a hit this week to their roster. Today a third player (all on the defensive side of the ball) has placed his name in the transfer portal. Earlier this week, two players announced their intention to leave the school citing “racial insensitivity”. This could be and probably is related to Liberty president Jerry Falwell Jr.’s tweet referencing Virginia Governor Ralph Northam’s blackface scandal

6/25:

  • The eight public universities in the state of Mississippi all condemned the state flag via a joint statement. To be rivals on the field, Lane Kiffin and Mike Leach (along with 44 other coaches and administrators), addressed the state legislature in hopes of having the Confederate emblem removed from the Mississippi flag.

  • Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson announced that he will be isolating himself from his wife Catherine until the season concludes. Catherine is a cancer survivor, and at this time in good health - though she is at a higher risk for complications if she were to contract COVID-19. Clawson is the second coach this week to isolate himself from family, as James Franklin announced that his family will remain in Florida while he coaches at Penn State

  • Another hit to the MEAC, as Bethune-Cookman announced that they will join rival Florida A&M in the SWAC on July 1st, 2021. These departures, along with those of Hampton and North Carolina A&T, will leave the MEAC with just six football-playing members. Meanwhile, the SWAC will now have 12 members in 2021, so the will establish Western and Eastern divisions, with six teams in each.

6/26:

  • The Oregon - Oregon State game will no longer be referred to as “The Civil War” because the two schools don’t want it to be tied to that divisive time in our history. The good thing is that it won’t weaken the fierce in-state rivalry between the two schools. The question now is, what rivalry name will come of this change? Maybe a return to the “Oregon Classic”? Or if allowed to use a war phrase, “Battle of Willamette Valley?”

  • Morehouse, a Division II program in Atlanta, announced that they would be canceling their 2020 football season. The decision was made with the health and well-being of both the students and the community in mind. The first Division II team that had their season canceled was Florida Tech, who had their entire football program shut down back in May due to the Pandemic.

  • Also, Bowdoin was joined by TCNJ (The College of New Jersey) in calling of their football season. TCNJ didn’t cancel all their fall sports though, just their “high contact” sports.

6/28:

  • A bit of great news on Sunday as the Mississippi lawmakers voted on Sunday to remove the Confederate battle emblem from its state flag. Major kudos to all involved in making this happen!