Dan Patrick.Just when you think the Big Ten might actually play football this fall, a discouraging update comes out. On Tuesday, Dan Patrick revealed what he’s now hearing about the conference.
Last week, Patrick said the season could potentially start in October. This is because the conference would still be eligible for the College Football Playoff. There’s just one major issue with this plan. According to Patrick, there are a handful of teams in the Big Ten that don’t want to play this fall.
“There is still a pushback from the medical community in the Big Ten to not play,” Patrick said. “And I was told they simply don’t have enough teams to play. I was told The Michigan teams not going to play, Illinois teams Illinois/Northwestern not going to play, Maryland’s not going to play and Rutgers probably won’t play.”
Patrick also said the medical community is trying to push the start of the season to November. This is different from the original target date that was October 10.
Here’s the full segment from The Dan Patrick Show:
Big Ten Football Update: "They simply don't have enough teams to play. I was told The Michigan teams not going to play, Illinois teams Illinois/Northwestern not going to play, Maryland's not going to play and Rutgers probably won't play." pic.twitter.com/DP0QKIUYT8
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) September 8, 2020
Another problem that Patrick pointed out is that Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren is silent right now. He hasn’t given teams any indication on what will happen this fall.
Warren recently spoke with President Donald Trump about trying to bring back football as soon as possible. That can’t happen if six teams aren’t ready to play in the next month or so.
For now, it doesn’t sound like the Big Ten will play football this fall.
