If you have followed my blog over the last several years, you know one of the most consistent things I love doing is providing my upset pick of the week in college football. I don’t always get them right, but I do often come close to picking some of the biggest upsets.
With the SEC, BIG 12 and other conferences slowly returning to play this month, you might be wondering where my upset picks are. Well, to be quite honest with everyone, I am not planning on really following college football this season.
But why, Brian? You love college football! Yes, I really do! My whole life, there has been no better feeling in the fall than waking up every Saturday to watch Lee Corso put on a mascot head to start a marathon of thrilling college football games. Seeing 80,000 fans rush the field after a huge upset gives me goosebumps every time, as do the many amazing traditions across the country, from the raucous “Sandstorm” in South Carolina to hearing the USC Trojans play “Fight On” after a win.
This year, however, is unlike any other. COVID-19 has killed more than 200,000 Americans, and despite what some people and “leaders” might want us to believe, the virus hasn’t magically gone away. Cases are still rising in many states, and college campuses are being hit especially hard.
Now, just because the virus is still in the United States does not mean there cannot be sports. The WNBA, NBA and MLS are some of the professional sports leagues that have proven a bubble can work. MLB, despite some scares with the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals, has survived and made it through a shortened regular season, and now the NFL has started their season with few problems thus far.
The difference between the sports I just mentioned and college football is in the word before football: college. The athletes being thrown out on the field during the middle of the pandemic also happen to be students. And where are millions of college students right now because of COVID-19? Oh yeah, stuck at home like me. I have all but one of my classes online, and I am not allowed to live on campus at Trinity University because my school is doing the best it can to keep all of its students safe.
I am not alone in having to live at home, as campuses all across the country have had to limit on-campus living and activities to fight the spread of the coronavirus. Some have been forced to shut down despite trying to return to normal, like the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, after cases of the coronavirus rapidly increased on campus.
If millions of college students can’t safely return to college, why are college football players allowed to play? It does not take long to figure out that the answer to that question is money. Universities make millions upon millions of dollars off of college football, which is why schools feel forced to let their teams play even when other fall sports like volleyball and soccer still mostly can’t play. The NCAA moved fall championships to the spring, but there goes football doing their own thing.
Look, I get it. Football does make a ton of money for universities, and schools are already cutting either sports or employees because of ongoing budget restraints caused by the pandemic. But if college football makes so much money for schools, so much so that they are more important than regular students at these schools, then why are these players not getting paid? Last time I checked, essential employees like grocery store cashiers, nurses and delivery workers get paid for their crucial work. If universities deem their football players so essential to keeping their schools running, it is time the players get rewarded for their essential work.
No one wants to see schools cut sports or see anyone lose their jobs, and I more than anyone want college football to be successful in its return. But I want college football to return when everyone can be safe and successful. Until all students are back at school safely, I won’t be making any college football upset picks.