The Big Ten Conference announced its tentative 10-game football schedule for this fall on Wednesday, with the Gophers’ season now planned to open Sept. 5 at Michigan State while adding a new East Division crossover game against Indiana.
The Gophers’ previous nine-game conference schedule has been reconfigured and more idle weeks have been added to deal with potential postponements due to the coronavirus pandemic. The start could be delayed until Sept. 12, 19 or 26 without much disruption to the overall schedule.
“There is no guarantee that we will have fall sports or football season, but we’re doing everything we can that if we are so blessed to be able to have fall sports that things are organized and done in a methodical and professional manner,” Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren said on Big Ten Network. “… It would be purely speculation for me to sit here today and say this is what percent I think we will have a season.”
Minnesota, which can open fall training camp on Friday, will play the same nine teams they were schedule to play before COVID-19 but at different dates. The U might have been given a break with the Hoosiers on the schedule after their 8-5 season in 2019, while avoiding East division heavyweights Ohio State and Penn State.
But the big challenges start right away with a road opener at Michigan State, with its new coach Mel Tucker, in East Lansing. That game is followed by three rivalry trophy games to finish the month: at home against Michigan, then Iowa comes to TCF Bank Stadium and a trip to Camp Randall Stadium to face Wisconsin.
“This might be one of the more vigorous Septembers Minnesota’s seen in a long time,” Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck said on BTN.
In early July, the Big Ten called off nonconference games, and other Power Five conferences followed suit within weeks. For the Gophers, that meant no games against Florida Atlantic (Sept. 3), Tennessee Tech (Sept. 12) and Brigham Young (Sept. 26).
The Big Ten has scheduled two bye weeks in the middle of each program’s season and before the Big Ten Championship game to be prepared for potential pandemic-related delays. The Gophers are idle on Oct. 17, Nov. 7 and Nov. 28, if need be.
Warren said the schedule “epitomizes fluidity.”
“This will not be a straight line this year,” he said. “We’ve released the schedule but we’ve done it in the context of: We have to plan ahead. We understand that we are in pandemic, and we are doing the best we possibly can.”
Wednesday’s announcement comes on the same day that Connecticut became the first FBS program to cancel its football season and days after Rutgers and Northwestern suspended workouts because of COVID-19 positive cases within their programs.
On Tuesday, Gophers star receiver Rashod Bateman decided to sit out the upcoming season due to the pandemic, and Penn State linebacker Micah Parsons reportedly will do the same. That means the Big Ten loses its 2019 players of the year at both of those positions.
“We walked through the process together,” Fleck said of Bateman’s choice. “Rashod Bateman is one of the best players in the country and you are being empathetic. … To be able to have the ability to change your family’s life and your life (as a top NFL draft pick) and then having COVID and a lot of the risks that are involved right now, I supported him 100 percent.”
The Gophers said they would announce COVID-19 testing numbers monthly, but have not yet done so for July. In June, the Gophers said seven student-athletes from multiple sports had positive results among 170 tests conducted.
Warren said schools will handle their own testing until the week before games are scheduled to be played, when the conference will move to third-party labs for more “consistency and credibility.” Tests will be done at a minimum or twice a week and could induce rapid tests. The conference also announced it medical protocols on Wednesday.
“We are taking the testing component of this entire process very seriously,” Warren said.
GOPHERS’ NEW SCHEDULE
Sept. 5 — at Michigan State
Sept. 12 — Michigan
Sept. 19 — Iowa
Sept. 26 — at Wisconsin
Oct. 3 — at Nebraska
Oct. 10 — Indiana
Oct 17 — OFF
Oct. 24 — Purdue
Oct. 31 — at Illinois
Nov. 7 — OFF
Nov. 14 — Northwestern
Nov. 21 — at Maryland
Nov. 28 — OFF
Dec. 5 — Big Ten Championship Game
GOPHERS’ PREVIOUS SCHEDULE
Sept. 18 — Iowa
Oct. 3 — at Maryland
Oct. 10 — at Wisconsin
Oct. 17 — Michigan
Oct. 24 — at Illinois
Oct. 31 — at Michigan State
Nov. 7 — Purdue
Nov. 14 — OFF
Nov. 21 — Northwestern
Nov. 27 — at Nebraska
