When Division I-A commissioners met via teleconference Wednesday afternoon, they had hoped to reach a unified decision on whether to go on with college football games four days after apparent terrorists attack on the United States.
But as is typical in a sport ruled by regional differences, each league went its own way–and some conferences were divided.
The Big Ten left decisions up to individual schools, and most apparently will play. Among the Big Ten games off the docket Saturday are Northwestern’s home date with Navy, which was canceled and will not be made up, and Notre Dame’s visit to Purdue, which was moved to Dec. 1.
The Pac-10 and Big East, citing respect for the dead and reluctance to fly long distances, postponed 8 of 10 games.
The Southeastern Conference said all of its teams would play as scheduled. But Wednesday night Indiana called off its game with Kentucky. Most Big 12 games also will go on. The Atlantic Coast Conference postponed conference contests but allowed most non-conference games to go on. The ACC’s showpiece game–No. 10 Georgia Tech at No. 6 Florida State–was postponed and likely will be played either Dec. 1 or Dec. 8.
“I think there’s two clear sides here,” Pac-10 Commissioner Tom Hansen said. “One is that we’re not going to let anybody push us around. The other is that we need to listen to our student-athletes and we need to respect what happened.
“I think good people can have different opinions on that. Everybody wanted to reach an agreement, but it was apparent pretty quickly that it wasn’t going to happen.”
The announcements came after commissioners and NCAA President Ced Dempsey discussed plans to carry on or postpone games in light of Tuesday’s tragic events in New York, Washington and western Pennsylvania.
The NCAA tried to stay above the fray, issuing a reminder that member schools have authority over non-championship events. “It’s our role to provide guidance, not mandates,” Dempsey said in a statement.
The NCAA executive committee said it would “adjust criteria for championship selection” in all sports. In football, the NCAA likely will grant bowl eligibility to 5-5 teams that can’t make up games.
Nearly three dozen of the 116 Div. I games scheduled from Thursday through Saturday had been postponed as of Wednesday evening, including 19 in Div. I-A.
Many games have been reset for Dec. 1. That is an open date for most schools, but the Big 12 and SEC have playoffs that day.
The conferences’ decisions seemed to break down along both geographical and psychological lines.
The Big East has members in both New York and Washington, where much of Tuesday’s carnage occurred, and a member in Pittsburgh, about an hour from where one of the four hijacked jetliners crashed. On Wednesday, authorities stopped an Amtrak train bound for Providence, R. I., which is home to Big East headquarters.
“There was an increased sensitivity in this area because the story has touched Boston, New York and Pittsburgh,” Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese said. “We decided it was in the best interest of everybody just to wait and reschedule the games.”
Notre Dame, a Big East member in every sport but football, didn’t hesitate to ask Purdue to move their game to Dec. 1.
“We have a pretty strong connection to the Northeast and the Mid-Atlantic region,” athletic director Kevin White said from South Bend. “We have a lot of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut kids whose family members have job obligations that take them to the World Trade Center every day, as well as a number of Notre Dame people who are employed in the Pentagon.
“I think what transpired [Tuesday] is dealt with in a lot of different ways. I’m not sure there is a right way or a wrong way. I think at Notre Dame, the events yesterday warrant a significant bereavement.”
Boston College had a bye this week, but BC athletic director Gene DeFilippo said he couldn’t imagine playing a game.
“I’ve got F-16s flying over the city, I’ve got FBI agents raiding a hotel downtown, I’ve got trains being stopped from Boston to Providence, and I’m going to play a game?” DeFilippo said. “Are you nuts?”
Out in the Pac-10, the attacks resonated because all four of the hijacked airliners were destined for the West Coast. And two Pac-10 football teams, Washington and California, had been scheduled to make long flights to the East this weekend.
“People here feel quite directly impacted,” Hansen said. Hansen said possible security problems at game sites didn’t weigh heavily in the Pac-10’s decision.
“More than the fact that you have these sitting ducks [in packed stadiums], we were concerned about the mental well-being of our student-athletes,” Hansen said. “They needed to be comforted, nurtured and even protected. A lot of them were concerned about getting on airplanes this week, and I don’t blame them.”
Commissioner Roy Kramer said the SEC would go ahead with the games for symbolic reasons.
“We believe that it is very important that we heed what the President of the United States has asked the country to do–to move forward and to not allow terrorists to change our way of life or restrict our freedom,” Kramer said in a statement.
The SEC said it would donate $1 million from gate receipts and television rights fees to assist victims, and it said fans at each stadium will also be encouraged to make donations. The Big Ten announced that its institutions would contribute $1 million to disaster relief. And the NCAA pledged $5 million on behalf of its schools.
