Michigan Football: When could the Wolverines play again?

The Big Ten Conference has canceled the 2020 season, leaving Michigan football and others in the league most likely unable to play, maybe until next fall.

The Big Ten chose to use the word postpone when it referred to its decision to cancel the fall season, but for Michigan football and others, unless something crazy happens, it’s over.

After a bunch of reporting and rumors over the weekend, which continued into Monday, the decision was announced officially Tuesday that the season has been postponed to spring. The conference also said it was evaluating Winter (basketball) and spring sports (baseball, softball).

Essentially, everything is on the table, except for a fall season for Michigan football and others in the Big Ten, although maybe not Nebraska, which has said it could look elsewhere to play.

You can bet if Nebraska tries this, Ohio State will too, which begs the question, would Michigan football?

Jim Harbaugh pleaded, using facts to back up his claim, said that football could be played in a safe manner. He advocated for a season, as did fellow coaches, Ryan Day of Ohio State included, along with players from across the country.

But their voices were not heard. Here’s what Warde Manuel, Michigan’s AD said on the topic:

There could be spring football. The Mountain West, MAC, the Big Ten, and the Pac-12 have all said they are going to push their seasons to the spring. A number of FCS conferences have done the same. It could be done. But it’s not as easy as you might think.

For starters, it won’t be the same as a fall season. Not in any way, shape, or form.

If it started in February or so, maybe some of the best NFL-draft eligible players would stick around, but probably only if the league pushed back the draft.

If the season started in February, even a shortened one with a playoff would last until April. Do you really think guys are going to want to play games while others are doing pre-draft training?

Some might. Especially the later-round guys, but others won’t and some might even opt-out and sit out things until 2021.

Then you have the issue with the ACC, SEC and Big 12.

As of right now, both the ACC and SEC have said they are going to attempt to have a season. If the Big 12 follows suit, then what the heck happens?

Would Ohio State or Nebraska or any other Big Ten school be able to join a conference for a year just like Notre Dame is going to with the ACC? Could any of those schools play independently?

Surely, the Big Ten wouldn’t let that happen and it shouldn’t. But it will be put in a difficult position if some of the other Power-5 conferences still play.

That could impact recruiting; it could lead to mass transfers and programs that chose not to play because their conference canceled the season, would be punished. That hardly seems fair.

Of course, the NCAA has had its head in the sand for months on this topic, so I wouldn’t expect that to change anytime soon.

Yet, the Big Ten’s assertion of playing in the spring is also disingenuous, especially if the idea is all about player safety.

Normally, players have from January until July to recover from the season. Obviously, there is spring ball and stuff like that, but a few weeks of practice is different from a full-on schedule, practices included, that would start in January at the earliest if a season was to start in February.

Then, players would get done with a 3-4 month season, have three months rest, and then play another full season starting in 3-4 months instead of 7-8 they get normally.

Christian Turner, a Michigan running back, opted out of the 2020 season, shortly before the Big Ten announcement and he surely won’t be the last.

This Tweet from Scott Bell, who is always on point, pretty much sums up how Michigan football fans are feeling right now:

We can hold out hope for some sort of season in the spring or maybe some type of miracle this fall. But that’s probably not realistic.

The harsh reality is that we probably won’t see Michigan football played again until August or September of 2021. Hopefully, I’m wrong on that.