last spring they waived 5 to play 4 when they didn’t count the truncated seasons as a year of play. For spring sport seniors it can be tricky. You have to be making academic progress for eligibility, but you add three quarters that you didn’t plan for. So you’ll see some double majors or kids trying to get into a grad program. Football in spring wouldn’t face that. But, you’re right - if some play, and some don’t it will be a mess. And if the P5 play fall, that will really disrupt things. You might see more FCS to FBS transfers like Sac’s Thomson coming.

I’m implying that spring would count as a year of play. Otherwise I think they’d have to grant another year like they did with spring sports. Spring sports are mostly partial scholarships so they have a little more wiggle room. Football, especially at FBS, would be a nightmare

I wonder what ‘spring’ means? Seems like they would need to play March-April to give players time to recover for a ‘normal’ camp in August. Fun times practicing in Cheney or Missoula in February!

I think rolling over a year of eligibility for everyone would have really effected programs for the next several years. People tend to focus on the seniors getting another year, but it’s everyone. How can you recruit next season’s freshman class, when you have a full freshman class in house? There are only so many slots available.

I’m pretty sure there would be no visiting fans. 26 days from kickoff and no practice start date yet? That’s not happening

Looks like Idaho players aren’t excited about fall football

https://watchstadium.com/sources-idaho-football-players-dont-want-to-play-this-fall-08-04-2020/amp/?__twitter_impression=true


I figured the Montana and Idaho schools would be pushing. Supposedly BSC might make an announcement today after yet another meeting

I can’t see us playing the Reno game in August 29. They have started modified practices and I think we’re still at the small group stage. USD is out. SJSU?

Nevada started ‘practicing’ last Friday. I believe we were originally slated to start Saturday but I believe that’s on hold.

https://www.rgj.com/story/sports/2020/07/31/nevada-football-wolf-pack-2020-schedule-tickets-mountain-west/5557534002/

Sounds like we’ll know (maybe) more tomorrow. The BSC already pushed other fall sports back, waiting in football

https://www.montanasports.com/big-sky-conference/big-sky-conference-delays-fall-sports-decision-new-meeting-next-week

This probably concerns them more:

https://news.yahoo.com/these-are-the-13-states-that-need-to-lock-down-now-according-to-harvard-coronavirus-experts-162201179.html

Two states, Arizona and Idaho, on the shut down list, California and Utah on the next level.

Seems to me IF our Aug 29 game were to be played, we’d need to start practice right about now. I don’t think we’ve progressed past small group ‘walk-throughs’. Big Sky nor Mountain West have announced anything but...,

At least neither conference has players threatening to boycott like the Pac12.

If they let us in, there’s no telling what the seating will look like. I have 4 seats in our box, AgAlum has 2 and my buddy opted out. They would have to spread us out over a couple boxes to get some type of distancing. If a majority of boxes renewed, we’d be spread out over the whole west side. I’d hate to lose our current seats (40 yard line at the top, great view AND shade) but seems inevitable.

if there are fans, it will season ticket and limited family. I could see the box seats being every other row, staggered from section to section for distancing. No concessions. Masks. Much of our big donor base is way up in the high-risk area , so it would be interesting to see who would opt in.

It’s not clear to me all schools in our conference have the resources to meet protocols required, especially after losing payoff games.

Did a search on UCLA transfer protocol and they have a bunch of guys leaving. This article from January shows 12, and with this extended period this year, there are probably more

https://www.dailynews.com/ucla-linebacker-jayce-smalley-becomes-12th-bruin-in-transfer-portal

Football and basketball would be really hard since judgement plays a big role. A good ref learns how to make good non-calls that have no impact on a play and allows a good pace of play. Seems hard to program into AI. But using cameras or sensors for ball placement or in bounds/out of bounds seems like a good idea

Baseball is more cut and dry, or should be. I’d start with balls and strikes (and probably fair/foul), with a distanced home plate ump for plays.

In the olden days the shells were clear and they painted the inside. Cracks would still be visible. Not sure if that’s still the case

I was thinking this would have been the perfect time for an AI plate umpire for balls and strikes, a distanced human ump for plays at the plate (thankfully the days of Jackie Robinson stealing home are long gone). They added the extra inning ‘start at second’ rule, why not a COVID-free robo plate umpire?

i think their reasoning is based more in timing than travel. Pushing first games until late September pushes camp to late August. Our camp should be going now to get ready for our Aug 26 opener; I expect camp to start closer to August 26 or Feburary 26. Hopefully not February 29

Their coach is 77; pretty high risk!

I agree with you on that. Not sure when the Big Sky will decide, but that what I’m expecting.

As for San Diego, their closest games are Davis and Poly, both in state. And those get cancelled

I agree; from the little I’ve watched , they don’t seem to be follow their protocols. And who knows what is happening away from the field.