Slate: Big 12 mulls delaying football championship game

Exceedingly sparse news today. All things considered, maybe that’s a good thing.

Big 12 officials have discussed delaying the conference’s football championship from December 5 to December 12. Moving the game back a week would allow an extra Saturday for teams to make up games that may be postponed for...well, you know...whatever reason. One possible conflicting factor: The game is at AT&T Stadium. Though the Dallas Cowboys are not currently scheduled to play at home on either the December 6th or 13th, the NFL may be forced to jockey its schedule, too. The league cannot reschedule unless the Cowboys agree.

Fingers crossed that all of this actually matters, in the end.

Since it’s on the athletic department website, and since we’re starved for true on-field competition, I guess we’ll allow this as a substitute: The Big 12 and Learfield IMG College have launched an esports tournament for all 10 member institutions. Each school will host a single-elimination tournament on Madden NFL 20, with the winners advancing to a Big 12 Championship Tournament July 18-19. School championship games and the tournament will be broadcast on ESPN+. Registration is open to all Big 12 students between June 22 and July 10.

Undaunted by ill tidings, Bracketcat continues to optimistically project the season to begin 75 days from now, as he introduces No. 75, Tre Eaton. Coach833, meanwhile continues his greatest-to-wear-the-number countdown with a close match between Jordan Willis and Mario Fatafehi as the best Wildcat to wear 75. Which would you choose?

Finally, Juan Perez Jr. at Politico discusses the pressures to return to the college playing fields and the harsh reminders—now 28 Clemson athletes and 14 K-Staters testing positive for Covid-19, leading to a halt in workouts—calling into question both whether the football season can proceed and, perhaps more importantly, whether it should.

**REMINDER** Despite the source of this article, commenters are reminded that we will not engage in partisan political discussion on the site. The news is relevant, and the issue itself bears discussion. But any comments violating the community guidelines will be deleted. Play nice, please.