Collectively They Are More Valuable Than Any Single Player
The MVPs of this college football season are not quarterbacks Mac Jones, Justin Fields, Trevor Lawrence or any of the players, but the schedule makers in the various conferences.
Collectively, they should be awarded the Heisman.
That is because they are jugging games like magicians and are keeping the sports going when so many games are being postponed or canceled due to COVID-19 protocols. Without them, the season would have likely been downed like a punt inside the 10 yard-line.
On Thanksgiving Weekend alone, USC-Colorado was canceled with the Buffalos playing San Diego State instead of the Trojans, the Apple Cup was canceled with Utah replacing Washington State on Washington’s schedule, Tennessee-Vanderbilt was postponed with the Commodores getting Missouri as a replacement and Alabama’s game with Arkansas on Dec. 4 was put off a week while an earlier missed game with LSU was put on that date.
The latter caused the SEC to revise the schedules of three teams – Alabama, Arkansas and LSU – all on the fly.
That kind of schedule adjusting has been going on all season in nearly every conference, and in November in particular as positive cases rise across the country.
If you think seeing a player walk a tightrope along the sidelines is impressive, then balancing act of the schedule makers is remarkable.
The schedule makers are juggling the games the way magicians juggle objects like balls and chain saws. And, just like magicians, they can’t fumble.
These last-minute changes are also a tribute to the coaches, players and athletic staff of the teams. There’s a lot of planning and preparation that goes into each game. There is scouting an opponent, watching film, preparing the players for formations and tendencies and all kinds of game planning.
That normally takes a full week but now that’s being done within two or three days on some occasions. The coaches have to prepare their players and the players have to absorb the information in short order and then go out and play the game at a high level.
From an administrative standpoint, there are travel arrangements for visiting teams and for home teams, stadium and game-day execution.
In a season like none other, those are are keeping the games going – regardless of that week’s matchups – are the true college football MVPs for 2020.
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