Is your favorite college football team going to play in 2020? Find out here.
The 2020 college football season is still — at best — a month away from starting, and it’s already unforgettable.
Games have been canceled, leagues have dramatically changed schedules and some schools have lost the opportunity to compete for a championship regardless of if a season actually happens in the 2020-21 school year. As things change day-to-day during the COVID-19 pandemic, check here for the latest developments regarding your favorite college football teams.
NCAA (FBS)
Overall: The NCAA has issued guidelines for all schools to follow this fall. It does not operate the College Football Playoff or postseason bowls, so its championship decisions regarding Division I sports don’t outright affect members of the Football Bowl Subdivision, who are part of the conferences listed below.
POWER FIVE
Southeastern Conference: Its 14 member schools — Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt — will play a 10-game schedule consisting of games only against other SEC schools. It has not yet released a revised schedule, but that schedule is expected to be comprised of teams’ previously scheduled eight SEC games plus two additional cross-division opponents. The league’s first games are scheduled to kick off on Sept. 26, and teams are permitted to begin practicing on Aug. 17.
Atlantic Coast Conference: Its 14 member schools — Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina, N.C. State, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest — as well as Notre Dame, a member of the conference in all sports except football, will play an 11-game schedule consisting of games against fellow ACC schools (or Notre Dame) and one additional game against a non-conference opponent. It has released a revised week-by-week schedule but has not scheduled game times or announced if fans will be able to attend. The league’s first games are scheduled to kick off the week ending Sept. 7.
Big Ten: The Big Ten on Sept. 16 announced that it will play an eight-game fall season beginning Oct. 24 after originally becoming the first Power Five league to postpone its fall season to the spring. Its 14 member schools are: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Rutgers and Wisconsin. Of those, only Iowa and Nebraska voted to play in the latest round of decision-making.
Big 12: Its 10 member schools — Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech and West Virginia — will play a 10-game schedule consisting of nine games against other Big 12 schools and one additional game against a non-conference opponent. It has released a revised schedule.
Pac-12: The Pac-12 was the second Power Five conference to postpone its fall sports season to the spring, but on Sept. 24 announced that it would reverse that decision and start a seven-game slate sometime in late November. Its 12 member schools are: Arizona, Arizona State, California, Colorado, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA, Southern Cal, Utah, Washington and Washington State.
GROUP OF FIVE
American Athletic Conference: Its 11 member schools — Central Florida, Cincinnati, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, Navy, SMU, South Florida, Temple, Tulane and Tulsa — will play a schedule consisting of eight games against other AAC schools, and each school has the option of playing up to four games against non-conference opponents. It has not released a revised week-by-week schedule and will reportedly kick off its games on Aug. 29.
Conference USA: C-USA will play a schedule consisting of eight games against other league schools with each school having the option of playing up to four games against non-conference opponents. The season will kick off Sept. 12. Its 14 members are: Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Louisiana Tech, Marshall, Middle Tennessee, North Texas, Old Dominion, Rice, Southern Miss, UAB, UTEP, UT-San Antonio and Western Kentucky. Old Dominion has decided to independently cancel its season.
Mid-American Conference: The MAC on Aug. 8 decided to cancel the remaining football games on its schedule, becoming the first FBS conference to opt out of playing. The league may attempt to play in the spring. Its 12 members are: Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Miami (Ohio), Northern Illinois, Ohio, Toledo and Western Michigan.
Mountain West Conference: The MWC inititally postponed all fall sports but now it will begin an eight-game football season on Oct. 24. Its 12 teams are: Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, San Diego State, San Jose State, UNLV, Utah State and Wyoming.
Sun Belt: Its 10 teams — Appalachian State, Arkansas, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Louisiana, Louisiana-Monroe, South Alabama, Texas State and Troy — will play a schedule consisting of eight games against other Sun Belt schools with each school having the option of playing up to four games against non-conference opponents. It has not released a revised week-by-week schedule and will reportedly kick off its games on Sept. 5.
INDEPENDENTS
Army: Athletic Director Mike Buddie has said that Army intends on playing a full 12-game schedule in 2020. It has lost four previously scheduled games due to decisions by other leagues.
BYU: The Cougars have eight total football games scheduled in 2020 as of Sept. 25.
Liberty: The Flames have 10 football games scheduled in 2020 as of Sept. 25.
New Mexico State: The Aggies will not play college football in the fall and instead attempt to play in the spring.
UConn: The Huskies will not play college football in the 2020-21 school year.
UMass: After originally deciding not to play this fall, the Minutemen will play “a limited number of football games” beginning in October.
NCAA (FCS)
Overall: The NCAA has issued guidelines for all schools to follow this fall. An official decision regarding its 24-team playoff for the Football Championship Subdivision teams is supposed to be made by Aug. 21. As of Aug. 14, no FCS conference is playing conference games in the fall.
Big Sky: It has announced that it will play a conference-only schedule in the spring. The Big Sky consists of 13 members: Cal Poly, Eastern Washington, Idaho, Idaho State, Montana, Montana State, Northern Arizona, Northern Colorado, Portland State, Sacramento State, Southern Utah, UC Davis and Weber State.
Big South: It has announced the postponement of its season to the spring, but will allow individual institutions to play up to four non-conference games at their own discretion. One member school — Hampton — has opted out of the 2020 season. Its other seven members are Campbell, Charleston Southern, Gardner-Webb, Kennesaw State, Monmouth, North Alabama and Presbyterian.
Colonial Athletic Association: The CAA will not play sports this fall but may explore a spring football season. Its 12 members are: Albany, Delaware, Elon, James Madison, Maine, New Hampshire, Richmond, Rhode Island, Stony Brook, Towson, Villanova and William & Mary.
Ivy League: The Ivy League will not play fall sports. Its eight members are: Brown, Cornell, Columbia, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, Pennsylvania and Yale.
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference: The MEAC will not play fall sports. Its nine members are: Bethune-Cookman, Delaware State, Florida A&M, Howard, Morgan State, Norfolk State, North Carolina A&T, North Carolina Central and South Carolina State.
Missouri Valley Football Conference: The league has postponed conference play to the fall and allowing members to play non-conference games at their discretion. Its 10 members are: Indiana State, Illinois State, Missouri State, North Dakota State, Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois, South Dakota, South Dakota State, Western Illinois and Youngstown State.
Northeast Conference: The league has postponed all fall sports. Its eight members are: Bryant, Central Connecticut, Duquesne, LIU, Robert Morris, Sacred Heart, St. Francis and Wagner.
Ohio Valley Conference: The league has postponed conference play to the spring and allowing members to play non-conference games at their discretion. Its nine members are: Austin Peay, Eastern Illinois, Eastern Kentucky, Jacksonville State, Murray State, Southeast Missouri State, Tennessee Martin, Tennessee State and Tennessee Tech. EKU has opted against joining the OVC for its spring season and will play eight non-conference games in the fall beginning Sept. 5.
Patriot League: The league has canceled all fall sports. Its seven members are: Bucknell, Colgate, Fordham, Georgetown, Holy Cross, Lafayette and Lehigh.
Pioneer Football League: The league has canceled football season for its 10 league members: Butler, Davidson, Dayton, Drake, Jacksonville, Marist, Morehead State, San Diego, Stetson and Valparaiso. It will consider playing football later in the year if feasible.
Southern Conference: The league has postponed all fall sports and will attempt to play them in the spring. Conference members may attempt to play non-conference games at their own discretion. Its nine members are: Chattanooga, East Tennessee State, Furman, Mercer, Samford, The Citadel, VMI, Western Carolina and Wofford.
Southland: The league has postponed all fall sports and will attempt to play them in the spring. Conference members may attempt to play non-conference games at their own discretion. Its 11 members are: Abilene Christian, Central Arkansas, Houston Baptist, Incarnate Word, Lamar, McNeese State, Nicholls State, Northwestern State, Sam Houston State, Southeastern Louisiana and Stephen F. Austin.
Southwest Athletic Conference: The league canceled all its fall sports competitions. Its 10 members are: Alabama A&M, Alabama State, Alcorn State, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Grambling State, Jackson State, Mississippi Valley State, Prairie View A&M, Southern and Texas Southern.
NCAA (Division II)
Overall: The NCAA has canceled its Division II fall sports championships, including football, for the 2020-21 school year. Eleven of 23 conferences in Division II, as of Aug. 5, had announced they would not compete during the fall.
Note: Includes only conferences with Kentucky teams that play football.
Great Midwest Athletic Conference: The G-MAC has announced that all fall sports competition has been postponed to the spring. Its eight football-playing members are: Alderson Broaddus, Findlay, Hillsdale, Kentucky Wesleyan, Lake Erie, Ohio Dominican and Tiffin.
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference: The SIAC has announced the suspension of all fall sporting events but left open the possibility of exploring the move of some sports’ seasons, football among them, to the spring. Its 11 football-playing members are: Albany State, Benedict, Central State, Clark Atlanta, Fort Valley State, Kentucky State, Lane, Miles, Morehouse, Savannah State and Tuskegee.
NCAA (Division III)
Overall: The NCAA has canceled its Division III fall sports championships, including football, for the 2020-21 school year.
Note: Includes only conferences with Kentucky teams that play football.
Southern Athletic Association: The SAA has suspended all sports competition through at least Jan. 1. It has left open the possibility of playing fall sports, including football, in the spring. Its nine football-playing members are: Austin, Berry, Birmingham Southern, Centre College, Hendrix, Millsaps, Rhodes, Sewanee and Trinity (Texas).
NAIA
The NAIA has postponed all fall sports championships, including football, to the spring, but conferences have been granted autonomy to decide when they hold their regular-season competitions.
Note: Includes only conferences with Kentucky teams that play football.
Mid-South Conference: MSC officials postponed all fall sports except football to the spring. The conference’s three football divisions were given autonomy to decide their plans and two of the three — Appalachian and Bluegrass — decided to postpone for a possible spring semester schedule; the Sun division will try to play in the fall. The postponement decision affects every Kentucky team in the MSC. They are: Campbellsville, Cumberlands, Georgetown College, Kentucky Christian, Lindsey Wilson, Pikeville, Thomas More and Union College
This story was originally published August 6, 2020 at 6:50 PM.
