As I sit here at the keyboard pounding out my thoughts, my eyes frequently drift over to my iPad where (wait for it) a live college football game is on. I wasn’t sure I was going to get to type those words in 2020. Yes, it is only Alabama-Birmingham hosting Central Arkansas, and I have to stream it on ESPN3 to see it (hence the iPad). But for the first time since LSU walked off the field as national champions back in January, an FBS team is playing meaningful football.
It’s certainly a bittersweet moment. This is Week 1 of the 2020 college football season, but there are only 9 total games scheduled to be played between now and Monday. None of those games involve a Power Five team. Only 5 feature two FBS teams. This is not a slate that normally makes for appointment viewing. We were supposed to get Alabama and USC playing in Dallas, and Michigan visiting Washington this weekend. Even North Dakota State putting its 37-game winning streak (and 6 game winning streak against FBS teams) on the line at Oregon had some appeal. Now? BYU visiting Navy on Labor Day is probably the marquee game of the week….a game that didn’t even exist on the schedule a couple months ago.
I could write paragraph after paragraph about what we will miss out on this fall, but I’m not going to. There is a live football game on in front of me right now. It wasn’t long ago when the smart money was probably on that not happening. 60% of FBS teams are going to try to play this fall. We can certainly question whether or not that is the prudent thing to do right now, but I’ll save that debate for another forum. Tonight, I just want to sit back and appreciate the game of football, and imagine the things we might still get to enjoy this season. The players who take the field this fall will be no less passionate about putting forth their best than they would have been in a COVID-free world. There will be plays, moments, and games that remind us why we love this so much. We won’t have to roll our eyes the Saturday before Thanksgiving when we look at the schedule and see it’s the SEC’s Cupcake Week. For the first, and perhaps only time in our lives, Notre Dame will play football as a member of a conference.
It almost feels fitting that UAB is the first FBS team to take the field this season. Only four years ago they didn’t even have a college football team. In three seasons, they managed to rise from the ashes after having the program disbanded in 2014, win a Conference USA title, and play for another one. So with that, I leave you with the hope that whatever rises from the ashes of the what-could-have-been college football season, it will be something we can all appreciate for what it is…the game we still love.
College Football Analyst
Mike is a Baltimore native living in Portland, OR since 2007. He currently runs his own business specializing in video production and online marketing. Prior to that he was a legal technology consultant, worked for 9 years at Johns Hopkins University and served 6 years in the Air Force. He also enjoys travel, food, beer, and is a volunteer at the Oregon Humane Society.