All 10 Football Bowl Subdivision conferences will end up playing this fall after all.
The first FBS conference to postpone its fall sports season became the last FBS conferences to opt back into playing this fall on Friday, when the Mid-American Conference announced that it will play a six-game football season beginning on Nov. 4 and concluding with a conference championship game on Dec. 18 or 19.
RETURN OF THE MAC!#MACtion pic.twitter.com/IblsYCEjw9
— #MACtion (@MACSports) September 25, 2020
The MAC's COVID-19 testing program will require athletes to take four antigen tests per week, with all positive tests requiring confirmation from a PCR test. Like the Big Ten, the MAC will also conduct cardiac screenings for all athletes who test positive. The MAC's new testing protocols will begin Oct. 5.
“I am pleased to inform our student athletes, coaches, and fans, that the Mid-American Conference will resume the fall football season,” MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher said in a statement. “Our decisions, in August and again today, have been guided by an overriding concern for the well-being of the student athletes, institutions, and the community at large. Our medical advisory group, presidents, directors of athletics, and others, have worked hard to develop a plan that provides the opportunity for student athletes to compete. We will be diligent in monitoring the dynamic health environment across the Conference footprint and the country.”
The MAC will not allow fans to attend football games this fall sports, and the rest of its fall sports other than football will resume in the spring, when NCAA championships in those sports are scheduled to be held.
The MAC will open its season on a Wednesday – on the same week the Pac-12 is returning, making the MAC the second-to-last FBS conference to resume play – and according to ESPN's Adam Rittenberg, the conference is planning to play all of its November games on weeknights.
Sources: #MAC likely to play weeknights only through November before transitioning to Saturdays in December.
— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) September 25, 2020
That means a full MONTH of true #MACtion.
With the MAC's announcement, all 10 FBS conferences are now slated to play this fall. A few individual FBS teams might still sit out the fall season – Old Dominion announced Friday that its football team will not play until fall 2021, and fellow FBS independent UConn also won't play this fall – but the vast majority of FBS teams will now be on the field playing actual games by November, with no FBS conferences still planning to play in the spring.
