Alabama Football: Six B1G teams going rogue for fall football
Alabama football fans have taken some pleasure in watching the Big Ten leadership recently flounder. After announcing the B1G would not play fall football, rumors began. The gist of the rumors being the Big Ten Conference members may not have actually voted to cancel the fall season.
Instead, apparently there was only a majority opinion of school Presidents favoring cancellation. That indicates more than an advisory position, but something less than a hard vote and a firm consensus.
In the Roy Kramer years, Alabama football fans believed the SEC did not treat the Crimson Tide program fairly. Kramer was accused of siding with Tennessee in Phil Fulmer’s effort to take down the Alabama football program. The ensuing clamor came from Crimson Tide fans. Officially, the University of Alabama did not attack Kramer and the Southeastern Conference.
While the Tennessee head coach, Fulmer skipped 2004 Media Days in Birmingham. What Phil chose to avoid was a subpoena stemming from a lawsuit against the NCAA. A couple of years ago, Bama Hammer revisited the 2002 NCAA probation of Alabama football and Phil Fulmer’s role in the NCAA investigation.
Tensions between the Alabama Crimson Tide and Roy Kramer were more than strained. In the end, the Alabama football program moved on. It never suggested a group of SEC teams should stage a rebellion. A rebellion is exactly what is happening in the Big Ten.
Detroit Sports Nation reported a growing rumor six Big Ten teams are seeking to play a 10-game season beginning in September. The primary source of the rumor is free-lance college football reporter, Jeff Snook. According to Snook, six Big Ten schools, led by Ohio State are looking to play 10 games by playing each other twice. Reportedly the school Presidents at Penn State, Iowa and Nebraska agree with the Ohio State plan.
Can such a guerilla action be successful? Not without the support of each participating school’s President. Are those administrators so willing to defy their conference they are willing to risk its longterm stability? No matter how important fall football is, are the big-dog schools willing to damage relationships with other Big Ten teams?
Any answers are complicated in this volatile environment. Writing for Saturday Blitz, John Vogel takes a deep dive into the issues for Big Ten teams and the conference.
Wild conjecture is of little value in this discussion. But, it is not impossible to foresee a split in the B1G (if it happens) might accelerate efforts to build super-conferences that separate from the NCAA.