Thanks to the lawsuit put together by eight Nebraska football players and their lawyers, the Big Ten was forced to admit a vote did indeed take place by university presidents to cancel fall football.
That vote produced an 11-3 result in favor of postponing fall sports. Iowa's Bruce Harreld, Nebraska's Ted Carter and Ohio State's Kristina Johnson are reportedly the three who voted to move forward with the fall season.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the unknowns surrounding the long-term impact for those who contract the virus were the primary factors that went into that decision. But there could have been some underlying motivations to punting the football season down the proverbial field.
We have a pretty good feeling why those 11 university presidents voted the way they did.
Illinois
Embarrassment. There's no other reason.
Lovie Smith's beard was immaculate. It was big and full and the best part of Illinois football, and for some terrible reason, Smith made the treacherous decision to shave it off during quarantine.
We all did things we're probably not proud of during our nationwide stay-at-home orders. I attempted the keto diet. But I bounced back quickly from my mistake. Smith's decision still haunts his program.
Indiana & Maryland
The motivations for Indiana and Maryland were the same.
Football season has always been a formality for these two programs. Something to pass the time until basketball season kicks up. Forfeiting the football season only means the universities can put their focus where it belongs.
Michigan
If you're a 20-year old Michigan fan, what is the favorite season of your lifetime?
Think about how depressing that question is. The Wolverines have won just two Big Ten titles since the turn of the century (2003-04), and in both seasons, they lost in the Rose Bowl to USC and Texas, respectively.
That '04 season in which Michigan fell to Vince Young and Texas in the Rose Bowl, they also suffered a stunning upset loss to the Troy Smith-led Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus.
The only other victory for Michigan over its greatest rival came in 2011 against arguably the worst Ohio State team in 50 years. Every other season this century has ended in disaster, with the last two matchups averaging a point differential of – checks notes – 26 points.
Perhaps Michigan went with the old adage, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results." You can't do the same thing if you don't have to take the field against Ohio State.
Michigan State
Imagine being one of the 11 programs who have advanced to the College Football Playoff since its inception in 2014. You'd figure you're in elite company alongside Alabama, Clemson, LSU, Ohio State and Oklahoma.
You're Michigan State, and things have fallen apart since your playoff appearance following the 2015 season. Over the last four years, the Spartans have won an average of 6.75 games per year. That, among other nauseating factors, led to the retirement of former head coach Mark Dantonio.
Michigan State had an opening, and as one of the 11 teams who made it to the promise land, it was able to land... Mel Tucker, who has a 5-7 career record as a head coach. And not only did they land Tucker, they awarded him a contract that made him one of the highest-paid coaches in the conference.
Are the Spartans really eager to see what Tucker will produce in his first season, after a disjointed offseason, while writing some of the biggest checks in the country for their head coach?
Minnesota
Minnesota has been the model of average in college football and the Big Ten, averaging a hair over six wins over the last eight seasons. But the expectation of average has shifted since the arrival of head coach P.J. Fleck, who elevated the Gophers' win totals in his three seasons from five to seven to 11.
The Gophers were expected to contend for the Big Ten West division in 2020, but it hasn't won a conference title since they shared that honor with Indiana and Purdue in 1967.
Fleck and Minnesota won 11 games in 2019, the most for the program since 1904. Why worry about a collapse back into normalcy when the opportunity to do so doesn't even exist.
Northwestern
Northwestern won an average of nine games in the four seasons leading up to 2019, but the bottom fell out last fall in which it won just three games over UNLV (ew), Illinois (EW) and UMass (EW!).
Pat Fitzgerald and the Wildcats peaked when they reached the 2018 Big Ten title game against Ohio State, when/where they lost by three touchdowns. Who wants to watch the encore to a 3-9 season?
Penn State
The heart can only bare so much.
Since Ohio State's 2014 national title winning season, the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions played in some classic matchups. Ohio State prevailed in double overtime to preserve its playoff hopes in '14, then won down-to-the-wire games in 2017 and 2018. Penn State won a heartbreaker in 2016 to balance hard-fought Buckeye victories in 2015 and 2019.
Defeat is a tough pill to swallow. Maybe the Nittany Lions just needed a year off.
Purdue
Purdue is clearly home to dark magic.
The Boilermakers hosted and beat Ohio State in 2004, 2009, 2011 and 2018. They have twice as many wins over the Buckeyes than Michigan since the turn of the century, despite not playing Ohio State every year like the Wolverines.
Dark magic can't be encouraged, particularly during these uncertain times. The forces that allowed Purdue to beat the Buckeyes in the past can't be released in 2020. That kind of power could shoot a steroid injection into the pandemic.
Rutgers
There is literally no explanation needed here.
Rutgers has won 13 games in the last five seasons. It is one of the most pitiful programs in all of college football, and despite the hire of former savior Greg Schiano as head coach, the outlook of the Scarlet Knights program remains bleak.
Why opt in to double-digit massacres? Who would do that? Just think of the children.
Wisconsin
As much as we dog on Michigan, how painful would it be to root for Wisconsin?
The Badgers produced stellar teams over the course of the last decade, which started off with a bang via consecutive Big Ten titles between 2010-12. But since winning the league title in 2012, Wisconsin has made it to the title game four times, only to lose that matchup each time by an average of over three touchdowns.
Why beat that old painful drum? Why not just call it quits before the song even begins?
