College football news: Big Ten, Pac-12 cancel fall seasons as SEC, Big 12 yet to announce schedules
Posted: 2020-08-11

The Big Ten became the first Power Five conference to postpone its fall sports season -- football included -- on Tuesday, Aug. 11, when it announced it won't play as scheduled "due to ongoing health and safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic." The landmark decision came against he backdrop of the #WeWantToPlay movement led by stars such Ohio State's Justin Fields and Clemson's Trevor Lawrence that swept the country at the beginning of the week as it became apparent the fall season was at stake.

The Pac-12 then followed the Big Ten's lead shortly after on Tuesday, as many had expected. Now, the question is whether the ACC, Big 12 and SEC will be next. As the country continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, conference and university leaders are making tough choices about the fall season.

The MAC became the first FBS conference to cancel football on Aug. 8, following the precedent set by several FCS conferences and all of NCAA Division II and III.

Here's the breakdown of what we know about the measures being taken at each division of the sport as the scheduled kickoff of the 2020 college football season approaches.

FBS

Big Ten: The Big Ten announced that it is postponing fall sports with hopes of playing in the spring. By doing so, it became the first Power Five conference to take such a drastic step. The landmark decision came amid uncertainty with the COVID-19 pandemic, and it met some resistance. Nebraska athletic director Bill Moos and head coach Scott Frost released a joint statement shortly after the Big Ten's announcement criticizing the decision.

Big 12: The league announced it plans to play 10 games in the fall, including nine conference games and one nonconference game beginning in mid-to-late September. The nonconference games must be played at home before the start of the conference slate. Here are the full details.

Pac-12: The Pac-12 canceled its fall sports season with hopes of playing in the spring, CBS Sports' Dennis Dodd confirmed on Tuesday. The move comes after the league announced its full schedule on July 31 with the season for the conference set to begin on Saturday, Sept. 26.

SEC: The SEC announced it will play a 10-game, conference-only schedule but has not released a schedule yet. The conference also announced the two additional conference opponents each program will face in the fall.

ACC: The ACC decided on an 11-game game schedule for the 2020 season, consisting of 10 league games and one nonconference opponent. Notre Dame will join the ACC for 2020 only. Here are the full details. Here are the full details.

CONFERENCE TOTAL GAMES CONF. / NONCONF. DIVISIONS? START DATE TITLE GAME

ACC

11

10 / 1

No

Sept. 7

Dec. 12 or Dec. 19

Big Ten

10

10 / 0

Yes

Sept. 3

Dec. 5

Big 12

10

9 / 1

No

TBA

Dec. 5

Pac-12

10

10 / 0

Yes

Sept. 26

Dec. 18/19

SEC

10

10 / 0

Yes

Sept. 26

Dec. 19

Independents: Notre Dame is scheduled to play 10 ACC teams this season as part of the conference's updated schedule. On the other extreme, UConn has canceled its 2020 season. The other independents are BYU, Liberty, Army, UMass and New Mexico State, and each are in varying stages of finalizing their 2020 slates.

AAC: AAC teams will be allowed to play up to 12 games, if they choose. The league slate is scheduled to consist of eight games, like it usually does, with conference play beginning on Sept. 19. The AAC Championship Game will be played on either Dec. 5, 12 or 19 at the stadium of the regular-season champion.

MAC: The MAC will not play college football in the fall. It does, however, intend to play in the spring.

Mountain West: The league announced that it will play its usual eight-game conference slate and two nonconference games with play permitted to begin Sept. 26. The league championship game will be held one of the first three Saturdays of December. An exact schedule has not been released.

Sun Belt: The Sun Belt announced on Aug. 4 that it will play a full season beginning on Labor Day. Several member schools have had nonconference games canceled, but the league will allow teams to add new nonconference games in order to reach a 12-game slate. A league championship game is scheduled for Dec. 5, but the date can be adjusted if necessary. On Aug. 10, amid growing cancellation concerns amid some conferences, Stadium's Brett McMurphy reported that the Sun Belt is planning for football in the fall.

Conference USA: C-USA announced Aug. 7 that its teams will play their originally scheduled eight conference games and up to four non-conference games. The league title game is scheduled for Dec. 5 but could be moved to later if needed. However, one team in the conference, Old Dominion, has made the call to cancel fall sports altogether. Still, Stadium's Brett McMurphy reported Aug. 10 that the league is still planning to play football this fall, even after ODU's decision.

FCS

The Football Championship Subdivision is comprised of 13 conferences and two independent programs. So far, nine FCS leagues have announced they will not play sports -- football included -- this fall. Those conferences are the Ivy League, MEAC, Patriot League, CAA, NEC, Pioneer Football League, Big Sky and the SWAC and the Missouri Valley Football Conference. The SWAC, Big Sky and Missouri Valley did announce plans to play this spring, however, with several other conferences leaving the door open for the possibility.

Division II, III and NAIA

The NCAA Division II and Division III councils canceled their fall championships on Aug. 5, citing the challenges posed by the pandemic. Those decisions came after the NAIA announced on July 31 that its football national championship has been postponed to the spring, though the NAIA left it up to individual conferences on whether or not they still want to have seasons this fall.

As if it wasn't already clear that Penn State coach James Franklin wanted to play the season, he sent out another statement Monday evening asking for a possible delay to the year if it meant playing football.

Stadium's Brett McMurphy reports Conference USA plans to forge ahead, even after one of its members, Old Dominion, canceled fall sports.

Rice is postponing the start of its football season until Sept. 26, which is the same date the SEC plans to kick things off -- as things stand now. The Owls had been scheduled to play at Houston Sept. 3 and to host Army Sept. 12. School says in announcement it is investigating potential dates to play those games later in the season.

Stadium's Brett McMurphy reporting that the Sun Belt plans to move forward with fall sports.

The word all along out of the ACC is that the conference is looking to play in the fall. A meeting with conference ADs seems to perpetuate that.

Tennessee chancellor Donde Plowman met with Tennessee's football team today regarding the #WeWantToPlay movement.

Also, the Big Ten's prominent coaches have REALLY pushed back on the idea of canceling. Ryan Day, James Franklin, Scott Frost and Jim Harbaugh have all said they want to play. Their voices by themselves don't really move the needle, but they definitely have strength in numbers.

Texas feels good about playing the season. Is that enough for the Big 12 to move forward? Maybe, but when the conference's flagship program wants to give it a go, that has to mean something.

Is the season still happening? Middle Tennessee is adding a game against Army, for what it's worth.

Credit to CBS Sports' Jerry Palm for the following. Amid all of the schedule movement in college football recently, only one program currently retains its original, 12-game schedule for the 2020 season: FIU.

No decision on the Big Ten's season -- whether it will move forward or not -- is expected this weekend after league presidents met on Saturday, according to CBS Sports' Dennis Dodd.

The Big Ten is delaying the move to its next phase of padded practices.

Huge news: Mid-American cancels fall football season because of COVID player health & safety concerns, sources told @Stadium. MAC took a huge financial hit when Power 5 s cut nonconference games & intends to try & play in spring, sources said.

The Missouri Valley Football Conference announced on Friday that it will not be competing this fall. The conference did, however, announce its intentions to hold an eight-game season in the spring.

Conference USA teams have been given the go-ahead to play their eight scheduled league games and up to four non-conference games.

Massive news at the FCS level. James Madison, which had been exploring playing football this fall as an Independent, is instead eschewing its season with hopes of playing in the spring.

Arkansas State has added a Sept. 19 home game vs. Central Arkansas to its 2020 schedule.

More make-up scheduling news. Louisiana Tech & Louisiana-Monroe will play in Shreveport Nov. 21 to replace canceled games vs. SEC opponents. Actually used to be a pretty good rivalry back in the day.

The Big Sky Conference has officially canceled conference football this season to spring 2021.

"The health and safety of our students is our top priority, and ultimately that concern guided our decision-making process over the past few months as we explored every option regarding the 2020 football season," said Andy Feinstein, president of the University of Northern Colorado and chair of the Big Sky Presidents' Council. "We recognize just how meaningful these opportunities are to the student-athletes, coaches, and staff throughout our conference, and empathize that they won't be able to compete this fall for a Big Sky championship. We are eager to provide our football programs with that opportunity in the spring when it's hopefully safer to be able to do so."

The Pioneer Football League (FCS) has announced that it will not play football in the fall. FCS football will be canceled if 50% or more of the membership decides not to play.

Iowa State and UNLV are delaying their nonconference game ... by 10 years. College football, everyone.

If you were hoping for a MACtion update today, it looks like you might have to wait until Saturday.

FCS ADs are "pessimistic about pushing ahead" as 50-percent cancelation threshold nears, according to Pete Thamel. If there's no FCS football, that would leave D1 as the only level of college football still playing.

2/2 which is making ADs pessimistic about pushing ahead for this fall. Expectations are that conversations about FCS football being played in the spring will begin in earnest if that 50-percent threshold is met.

Texas Tech's non-conference game will be against Houston Baptist on Sept. 12

The ACC announced its full schedule on Aug. 6.

BYU has an official start date for its season. The independent had plenty of questions as to whether it would continue with a season or not in 2020.