The title is a little sensational, but accurate none the less. Earlier this week, the Big 12 Conference announced its rules for the upcoming college football season regarding COVID19 and personnel-related issues.
With everything that happened in 2020, and the new Delta Variant sweeping through the United States, it's important to have a plan in place for when and if teams lack enough healthy players to, well ... play.
Let's go ahead and take a look at the statement released by the Big 12 this week:
The Big 12 Conference has set its game threshold policy for the upcoming season. In the event a Conference game is canceled due to a team not having enough student-athletes to compete (due to COVID-19 or for any reason), that team will forfeit and will be credited with a loss in the Conference standings. The opponent will be credited with a win in the Conference standings. Both teams will be deemed to have played the game for purposes of Conference standings only. A forfeit can be declared at any point before a completed contest, and when possible would occur prior to the visiting team commencing travel. Additionally, if both teams are unable to compete, a No Contest would be declared and, if needed, an unbalanced tiebreaker would be utilized to determine Conference championship participants in football or championship seeding in other sports. The Commissioner retains discretion to declare a No Contest if extraordinary circumstances warrant.
It's all pretty standard, and boils down to simple logic. "If you can't field a team, you lose. It's not for NCAA or national record books. It's just for Big 12 Conference standings." It doesn't take a seasoned contract lawyer to break this down. It was written by the Big 12 after all. But the last part stands out.
"The Commissioner retains discretion to declare a No Contest if extraordinary circumstances warrant." That is the only part that could be interpreted a few ways, mostly due to "extraordinary circumstances" not being easily definable. That combined with the 2020 college football season giving us loose examples of extraordinary circumstances being experienced nationwide almost weekly, it kind of broadens the range of "the Commissioner's "discretion."
In other words, if Bob Bowlsby felt Texas and Oklahoma were not reporting accurate COVID19 test and tracing results, he could deem the Red River Showdown a No Contest. However, the game would still likely be played since the only thing affected are Big 12 standings and Bowlsby clearly can't stop Texas and Oklahoma from doing what they want. That scenario is unlikely, of course, but you can bet it would be supported on eight Big 12 campuses (and in College Station).
Hopefully every game can be played and all of the student-athletes stay healthy. But it will make for an interesting football season if Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby does find any "extraordinary circumstances."
