Miami football game versus Michigan State likely cancelled per report
The Miami football game at Michigan State is expected to be canceled in 2020 with a report expected later today announcing the Big 10 will play a conference only schedule.
A tweet from Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic reported that the Big 10 is expected to announce today they will only play conference games in 2020. That would eliminate the Miami football game at Michigan State on September 26. The game in East Lansing is the first Miami regular-season game against a Big 10 team since 2015.
Auerbach initially broke the news and it has updated it with a retweet from ESPN that stated “Breaking: The Big Ten decided that a conference-only season for all fall sports, including football is the most likely outcome, a source with knowledge of the discussions told @CFBHeather and @Mark_Schlabach.”
The ACC earlier today pushed back the start of Olympic sports to September 1. The Miami football season is scheduled to begin September 5 against Temple at Hard Rock Stadium. How the schedule would evolve from losing the game against Michigan State is speculative at this point.
The prevailing opinion is that the ACC will go to a similar schedule. The reasoning behind limiting games to conference games is to avoid teams traveling outside of their region to avoid spreading the virus. Without the game at Michigan State, the furthest the Hurricanes are scheduled to travel in 2020 is Virginia.
The decision by the Big 10 creates many questions. Will they stay with the current schedule or add inter-division games. How will Miami replace the game against Michigan State? Will they try to add another non-conference game? Could Miami add cross-division games if the ACC follows the Big 10’s lead?
The news is evolving and after Auerbach tweeted the original breaking news about the decision by the Big 10 and the retweet by ESPN Sportscenter the Big 10 announced that all of their fall sports will go to a conference only schedule. There has been no statement of how this will affect football schedules overall.
Some schools are starting their fall semester early to end by Thanksgiving and avoid students returning to campus after the break. With the Big 10 canceling non-conference games they could move the season up and end in early November. Miami has a linear schedule this season beginning with four non-conference games.
Next. Miami season has multiple scenarios per AD Blake James. dark
With Michigan State moving to a conference only schedule as part of the Big 10, Miami has Temple, Alabama-Birmingham and Wagner remain on the schedule. Everything is evolving quickly and the ACC and Pac 12 are expected to follow the lead of the Big 10 and go to a conference only schedule.