Michigan Football: Discussing shortened seasons, schedules and more

Coaches

Bronco Mendenhall, the head coach of Virginia, has given up hope for spring practice he didn’t seem optimistic in a video interview earlier this month.

“Knowing that fall camp timing might even be pushed back,” Mendenhall said, “meaning that there certainly could be a chance that it’s not even be a full schedule played this year — if football is played, period.”

Bronco opined a short schedule is possible, but he wondered if it would count.

“The first step would be to eliminate non-conference games from the schedule … and only play a conference schedule,” he said. “Knowing that would still be challenging … but in relation to the options we have, that certainly might be doable. Once you are under eight games, that probably becomes a non-legitimate season.”

North Carolina head coach Mack Brown also wondered how a shorted season could play out and what meaning it would have in the grand scheme of things.

“There is a fear of, ‘Would we have a season?'” Mack said. “‘Would we have a partial season? What does a partial season mean?’ There is a great concern because of the remedy that comes in with football.”

Matt’s musings

None of this truly matters and I think we’re, as a society, beginning to realize that health must come before sport. But what event could tell the world we’ve beaten this thing better than hosting the great sport of football and broadcasting it across the county to eager fans?

With strict safety measures and the approval of health officials, we could see some semblance of football.

There is hope.

For more information about COVID-19, visit the CDC’s website or the website for your state’s Department of Health.