2020 College Football Discussion and Pick 'Em Thread

[GeorgiaModerate]

I'm in too, and I'm willing to keep score again unless someone else really wants to do it.

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/NicoleAuerbach/status/1281303990546948096

I don't think there's going to be any college football this fall.

[GeorgiaModerate]

The Patriot League cancels Fall sports.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Well, things have stopped getting cancelled for the past 10 days. The big 12 and SEC in particular seem set on playing fall CFB and none of the other conferences have gone beyond cancelling non conference games, remains to be seen but chances of a season occurring seem to be improving for the moment.

The SWAC postponed all fall sports on Monday.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/29505344/swac-specifies-plans-spring-football-season-part-fall-sports-postponement

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/Kevin_Lytle/status/1290766084212174848

[GeorgiaModerate]

UConn cancels:

https://twitter.com/Brett_McMurphy/status/1290988680937709575

[GeorgiaModerate]

UConn cancels:

https://twitter.com/Brett_McMurphy/status/1290988680937709575

I thought UConn cancelled their football program?

No, it's still going as an independent after UConn left the AAC for the Big East, although it's been speculated that they'll either drop football or move down to FCS at some point.

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/29621025/source-mac-cancels-fall-football-season-eyes-move-spring

The Mid-American Conference has postponed its entire fall sports season, becoming the first FBS conference to make the drastic decision because of ongoing concerns surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.

This feels like dominoes starting to fall, similar to the week of the basketball conference tournaments.

[GeorgiaModerate]

"If I were president, we would be playing college football" is the clinching argument for Biden.

Lots of developing countries are bringing back sports without COVID outbreaks. We can't, thanks to Trumps' ineptitude.

Corollary: if many/most conferences cancel or postpone football, Trump will lash out at them for doing it to hurt him (whether or not Biden mentions it).

[GeorgiaModerate]

It would be beyond ridiculous to cancel college football given the (virtually) zero risk that young people are at from this virus.

Lower risk than older people?  Sure.  Virtually zero risk?  This is simply not true.  Haven't you seen the articles about young people who have died from the virus, or survived but with serious health complications?

Also, do you think those young people have no contact at all with anyone at higher risk, or with anyone else who has contact with anyone at higher risk?

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/dennisdoddcbs/status/1292264743097507846

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/KySportsRadio/status/1292595890776084481
Probably game over, shall I turn this into the 2021 thread?

You're probably right, but let's wait until it's official.

[GeorgiaModerate]

I wonder if this might spur another round of conference realignment.  For example, if the Big 12 decides to play, might Iowa and Nebraska decide to bolt the Big Ten for them?  Nebraska was previously in the Big 12, and Iowa would be a good fit for them as well.

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/david_j_roth/status/1293015494673477632

[GeorgiaModerate]

As expected:

https://twitter.com/PeteThamel/status/1293256841296842759

[GeorgiaModerate]

IF the Big 12, SEC, and ACC actually do play (and that's a big if)

do we want to still do the pick em?

I'm game.

[GeorgiaModerate]

When the student body comes back, there will be parties.

UNC has reported four COVID-19 clusters in less than a week after starting classes.

[GeorgiaModerate]

When the student body comes back, there will be parties.

UNC has reported four COVID-19 clusters in less than a week after starting classes.

And UNC throws in the towel for in-person classes this semester.  I can't believe they'll be playing football under these circumstances.

https://twitter.com/dailytarheel/status/1295452926362746885

[GeorgiaModerate]

When the student body comes back, there will be parties.

UNC has reported four COVID-19 clusters in less than a week after starting classes.

And UNC throws in the towel for in-person classes this semester.  I can't believe they'll be playing football under these circumstances.

Their athletes never attended classes anyway. (in-person or online)

A definite point.

[GeorgiaModerate]

I don't have a strong preference either way.

[GeorgiaModerate]

When the student body comes back, there will be parties.

UNC has reported four COVID-19 clusters in less than a week after starting classes.

And UNC throws in the towel for in-person classes this semester.  I can't believe they'll be playing football under these circumstances.

https://twitter.com/dailytarheel/status/1295452926362746885

Why?  If anything, it is safer to play football now.

I think it will be very hard for a university to justify bringing their football team together for practices and games at a time when they don't consider it safe for students to be in class together. 

[GeorgiaModerate]

Memphis running back Kenneth Gainwell has opted out of the season due to concerns over COVID-19.  His family has already lost four members to the disease.  Gainwell (terrific name for a running back!) was a second-team preseason All-American and probably the best non-P5 player in the country.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/29774924/memphis-rb-kenneth-gainwell-opting-prepare-2021-draft

[GeorgiaModerate]

Penn State football doctor: 30-35% of COVID-19-positive Big Ten athletes had myocarditis

During a State College Area school board of directors meeting on Monday night, Wayne Sebastianelli — Penn State’s director of athletic medicine — made some alarming comments about the link between COVID-19 and myocarditis, particularly in Big Ten athletes. Sebastianelli said that cardiac MRI scans revealed that approximately a third of Big Ten athletes who tested positive for COVID-19 appeared to have myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle that can be fatal if left unchecked.

“When we looked at our COVID-positive athletes, whether they were symptomatic or not, 30 to roughly 35 percent of their heart muscles (are) inflamed,” Sebastianelli said. “And we really just don’t know what to do with it right now. It’s still very early in the infection. Some of that has led to the Pac-12 and the Big Ten’s decision to sort of put a hiatus on what’s happening.”

[GeorgiaModerate]

For the benefit of any new players, here’s how it works:

Anytime after dfwlibertylover posts the week’s games, make your picks by replying in this thread one or more times.  Don’t send them by PM to either him or me.  You can either copy the list of games and bold your predicted winners, or just post your list of winners. 

If bolding your winners, games with zero or both teams bolded will not be counted.  If listing your winners, slight errors in team names will be counted if the intent is unambiguous.  For example, in the Georgia Tech vs Florida State game, writing “Florida” would be counted as a pick of Florida State, but “Georgia State” would not be counted.  I (or anyone) may point out such errors so you have a chance to correct them, but this is not guaranteed to happen – ultimately, you’re responsible for getting your picks posted correctly.

Your pick for a game must be posted before the official start time for that game.  This is a hard cutoff.  You can change any of your picks by making a subsequent post, as long as it's before the game start time.  Please don’t edit your original post, as this is easy for me to miss and could also raise timestamp questions. 

You don’t have to post your whole list at once.  For example, in a week with Friday and Saturday games, you could optionally post only the Friday game picks by Friday, and then follow up with the Saturday games on Saturday morning.  Or if you forget and miss the Friday games, you can still post picks for Saturday's games.

Each correct pick is worth one point.  After all of the week’s games are complete (usually on Sunday morning) I’ll post the results for that week and the year-to-date standings.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Thursday, September 10th

Houston Baptist @ Texas Tech 8 PM EDT ESPN+

Coastal Carolina @ Kansas 10 PM EDT FS1

Really bold of you to pick Kansas, when they haven't beaten an FBS team in about a decade.

I think Houston Baptist is the bold pick there.