Football Committee Wants Time As NCAA Ponders Fall Sports' Fate

The NCAA BOG “could cancel fall sports championships as early as Friday,” but the D-I Football Oversight Committee has asked “for more time to assess the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to David Teel of the RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH. West Virginia AD Shane Lyons, who chairs that committee, “urged patience in a Tuesday email to the governors.” He wrote, “While experience has shown that the impact of the virus can shift dramatically from week to week, the committee strongly believes that a patient approach to evaluating the possibility of conducting 2020 fall championships will provide the remaining conferences and schools the best opportunity to make deliberate decisions about conducting practices and competition this fall.” The BOG meets tomorrow and again on Aug. 4. Regardless of the BOG’s decision, there could still be an FBS season and CFP “since they are not administered by the NCAA” (RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH, 7/23).

MORE CLARIFICATION WANTED: Lyons said that his committee would like “clarification as to whether the board is considering canceling fall championships entirely, or postponing them to the spring.” That includes “what that would do to the FCS football championship, and how it would impact the bowl system.” ESPN.com’s Heather Dinich noted that there is “also the question of optics.” Lyons: “You can continue to have the football games and all that. But if you're not playing other sports, optically, what does that look like?” Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby indicated that a decision to cancel fall championships now “would have ‘a profound impact’ on everything else” (ESPN.com, 7/22).