Reports: SEC hoping to get ACC, Big 12 to play in 2020, while Big Ten watch continues
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The SEC appears to be holding out to play a football season this fall, and they want the Big 12 and ACC to come with them.
Earlier today on the Dan Patrick Show, Patrick told his radio audience that the Big Ten and Pac-12 are set to pull the plug on the 2020 football season. That news is something that we’ve reported here for almost three weeks. The move is said to take place as early as Tuesday.
Fortunately, there are also now conflicting reports that have said that the Big Ten isn’t set to cancel things just yet as Nichole Auerbach of The Athletic tweeted, “Big Ten spokesman says ‘no vote has been held by our presidents and chancellors.’"
If indeed the Big Ten pulls the plug or pushes things back to the spring, there is now a movement out of the SEC to fight to keep the ACC and Big 12 playing this fall.
During Patrick's report, he put went on to say, “The Big 10 and the PAC-12 will cancel their football seasons tomorrow, the ACC and the Big 12 are on the fence, the SEC is trying to get a delay to have teams join them.”
Late last night, Trevor Lawrence and Derian Rencher threw a last-second hail mary to give the season some hope, but still at midday Monday things are still very much up in the air.
Lawrence’s tweet using the hashtag #WeWantToPlay was recently quote-tweeted by the President of the United States.
President Trump said, “The student-athletes have been working too hard for their season to be cancelled. #WeWantToPlay”
According to Patrick, the SEC will seek an exclusive TV contract for football in the fall. Following up with his sources, the nationally syndicated radio show host said that he was told that three Big 10 teams said ‘it’s done.’
The followup response to Patrick’s questions led to the explanation of the SEC’s plan, “They’re trying to buy time, according to my source, to see if the ACC or Big 12 will go along with them.”
Matt Hayes, who covers college football for Bleacher Report furthered the talk of the SEC, ACC and Big 12 possibly working together noting that a Power 5 AD reached out to him with an update.
“It’s looking more and more like it’s Big Ten and Pac-12 vs. SEC, ACC and Big 12," Hayes tweeted. "Power 5 AD made it clear: doesn’t mean SEC, ACC and Big 12 are playing, just means they’re not giving in just yet. They’re continuing to move forward. Science and medical professionals (and ultimately, university presidents) will dictate what they do."
Amazingly, while reports continue to come out about the Big Ten’s potential announcement the Ohio State Buckeyes’ twitter account is retweeting players at the school that want to play.
Again, the decisions will not be made by the ADs, that will come down to the presidents, at this point, things are still perilous for a 2020 season. But it’s certainly been incredible to watch it unfold.