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The Wall Street Journal has a story under the headline, The Ivy League Might Take a Pass on Football This Fall. Whether there's anything new or substantial in the story I can't tell you because while my alumni library online account allows me access to the New York Times and Washington Post, among others, the WSJ isn't available. Find the story behind a paywall HERE.
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While we await the fate of Ivy League football, the Patriot League is seeing its non-conference schedule disintegrate. Fordham has now canceled its first three games against Stony Brook on Aug. 29, against Bryant on Sept. 5 and at Hawaii on Sept. 12.
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Dennis Dodd of CBS Tweets (LINK)
Division III NESCAC (New England Small College Athletic Conference) looks like it is going to spring football. Source: "No chance we have a fall season." Another source says NESCAC presidents have already voted to move. Waiting for NCAA approval. Conference says no decision made.
Green Alert: The NESCAC calling the season off? Well, duh. With Bowdoin, Amherst, Williams and Tufts already announcing no sports this fall, what option did you think they had? As for the spring piece, don't be surprised if the Little Ivies follow what the Ivy Ivies do. Whatever that is.
Tacked below Dodds' Tweet is a comment in the feasibility of the NESCAC moving fall sports to the spring:
The logistics of that are going to be tough given the fact that they already have sports that play in the spring. How will the AT staff, facility schedulers, SIDs handle doing double duty and where will you locker everyone. Many football and lax programs share Fields and lockers
Green Alert Take: Not only do many football and lax programs share fields and lockers, they also share players. The ability to play two sports has long been a real attraction at DIII schools. While even at the DIII level the two-sport kids are fading away, what is the football/baseball or football/lacrosse player to do if both of his sports are in the spring?
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The Centennial Conference, a grouping of 11 Division III schools including Gettysburg, Swarthmore, Franklin & Marshall, Haverford and Johns Hopkins has issued this statement (LINK):
Given health and other related concerns, the Centennial Conference Presidents Council has decided to suspend any inter-collegiate competition for sports scheduled for the fall semester. The presidents will reevaluate this decision by the end of September, based on work to be done by the Conference to assess sports-specific activities and the experiences on the schools’ campuses. The presidents have determined football will not be played in the fall. The Conference will also explore the possibility of shifting certain fall sports, including football, to the spring.
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Craig Haley of STATS has Tweeted this (LINK):
The 2020 FCS Kickoff (Austin Peay vs. Central Arkansas) is still scheduled for Aug. 29.
The decision to play will be made by ESPN Events (the promoter) and the host (Cramton Bowl in Montgomery, Ala.) with input from the schools, which still plan to have fall sports.
Green Alert Take: That is absolutely frightening. The decision will be made by ESPN Events and the host with input from the schools? Seriously?
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While we await the fate of Ivy League football, here's the College Football America FCS Preseason Top 30:
1. North Dakota State
2. Northern Iowa
3. James Madison
4. Villanova
5. South Dakota State
6. Montana
7. Montana State
8. Weber State
9. Illinois State
10. Kennesaw State
11. Sacramento State
12. Wofford
13. Nicholls State
14. Austin Peay
15. Furman
16. Southeast Missouri
17. Central Arkansas
18. North Carolina A&T
19. Central Connecticut State
20. Monmouth (NJ)
21. Florida A&M
22. Albany
23. Eastern Washington
24. Dartmouth
25. San Diego
26. Southeastern Louisiana
27. Alcorn State
28. Yale
29. North Dakota
30. Holy Cross
Green Alert Take: I'm surprised that Princeton isn't listed. If most of the players who missed last season are back and if a quarterback steps up (granted that is a big if), the Tigers absolutely belong on that list.
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STATS has s story under the headline, 10 QB competitions to watch in the FCS and one of those competitions is at Towson, where Dartmouth is supposed to play in September. From the site (LINK):
Ryan Stover, who preceded Tom Flacco as the Tigers' starting quarterback in 2017, hopes to get the job back as a redshirt senior. However, Jake Constantine has come aboard as a grad transfer after he started the last two seasons at Big Sky champ Weber State.
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A story in the Harvard Crimson looks at the fall education plans around the Ivy League. (LINK)
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EXTRA POINT
I checked my ESPN+ subscription yesterday to see when it auto-renews. Luckily it's not until Sept. 1. There's a very good chance I'll be canceling it tonight or tomorrow.
