There is a large divide in the country when it comes to the start of CFB and what we will see this fall. What does that mean for Clemson football?
The Clemson football team is poised to make another run at the CFB Playoff during the 2020 season, but there are still plenty of questions pertaining to the start of the season and what to expect moving forward.
College Football analysts have speculated anything from starting the season on time with no fans to playing a shortened season that doesn’t start until October to not starting the season until January of 2021 and many other scenarios that fall in between.
The truth of the matter is that no one knows what the future holds as we move forward, but it’s clear that Clemson football fans want to see their Tigers on the field as soon as it can be safely be done.
One of the most interesting points surrounding the start of College Football, though, has to do with the SEC.
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said during a radio interview earlier this week that there is room for each conference to make its own decision and potentially move forward with games even if other areas of the country aren’t ready.
"“There is room for different conferences to make different decisions,” Sankey said via Yahoo."
This regionalized version of College Football would be interesting to think about, for sure.
*Keep in mind this is all speculation*
What if the southern region of the U.S. is ready to play and can do so safely, but other regions cannot? That would put the ACC in a divide as it has teams in the south- like Clemson, Miami, Florida State and Georgia Tech- mixed with teams along the northern portion of the east coast like Boston College and Syracuse.
Could the NCAA potentially set up a system of schedules where teams play regionally-safe games instead of playing just in their individual conference? Perhaps for one year we see realignment- such as what has been considered with Major League Baseball– and that allows some of the College Football programs to play.
This scenario would not really mean Clemson joins the SEC.
Instead, the Tigers could play ACC teams like Florida State, North Carolina, NC State, Wake Forest and Miami while also filling out their schedule with a few extra SEC opponents. We may could even see some of the smaller programs around those states be added to schedules.
It doesn’t seem like a likely option just because of the sheer amount of logistics issues- including conference agreements- but we’ve seen crazier things happen during this time and if football can be played safely, you have to believe that Dabo Swinney and his staff are going to want to play, no matter what changes have to be made to do so.