Terps Football Season Postponed, Big Ten Hopes To Play In Spring

COLLEGE PARK, MD — The Big Ten postponed its 2020 football season to slow the spread of coronavirus. The University of Maryland Terrapins will not play again until 2021.

The Big Ten announced the decision Tuesday afternoon. The move also scratched the seasons of several other fall sports. Men’s and women’s cross country, field hockey, men’s and women’s soccer and women’s volleyball will not play this year.

The Big Ten says it is exploring the possibility of playing their the postponed seasons in the spring. The conference has not yet made a decision on whether it will play winter and spring sports.

"The mental and physical health and welfare of our student-athletes has been at the center of every decision we have made regarding the ability to proceed forward," Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren said in a press release. “As time progressed and after hours of discussion with our Big Ten Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases and the Big Ten Sports Medicine Committee, it became abundantly clear that there was too much uncertainty regarding potential medical risks to allow our student-athletes to compete this fall.

Talk show host Dan Patrick first reported that the Terps' conference voted to delay the season during a Monday meeting. The motion passed 12-2, Patrick said, with the Iowa and Nebraska voting to play on.

Patrick said that the PAC-12 Conference will also table its football season, but it does not want to be the first to scrap its fall plans. The ACC and the Big 12 are undecided, he added. The SEC is trying to buy more time and convince the ACC and Big 12 to join it in playing a season, Patrick said.

Though Big Ten players were not told about the postponement, many teams shifted their practices and media availabilities away from Monday, the Detroit Free Press reported. The Lansing State Journal said a formal vote came Monday at 6 p.m., after which schools collectively proceeded.

The Big Ten originally planned a 10-game season with out-of-conference games prohibited. The Terps were slated to open at Iowa on Sept. 5. Maryland's first home game was scheduled for Sept. 12 against Michigan State.

The Football Bowl Subdivision, which is college football's top tier, saw its first delay on Saturday when the Mid-American Conference dropped its fall games. Multiple conferences in the Football Championship Subdivision, the sport's second-highest level, shelved their seasons in July.

The FBS and FCS will both allow conferences to play, if they so choose, but the Towson Tigers will sit the fall out. Their conference, the FCS's Colonial Athletic Association, deferred its season last month.

The Terps started their training camp on Friday with hopes to squeeze in a season. As delays became more common, however, student-athletes started to push back. Some players, including Maryland running back Jake Funk, used #WeWantToPlay to show their continued desire to get back on the field.

RELATED:

• Terps May Not Play, Big Ten Expected To Cancel Football Season
• Big Ten Cancels Football Season, No Ohio State Football: Reports
• Mid-American Conference Cancels Fall 2020 Football Season

Patch Editor Chris Mosby contributed reporting to this article.

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