Final take: Let's play some football
When Nebraska head coach Scott Frost took the podium on Aug. 10 saying why he believed they need to be playing football, I'm not sure he or anyone thought we'd be where we are at today.
When the Big Ten announced on Aug. 11 they were canceling the fall sports season and Commissioner Kevin Warren said on Aug. 19 the decision would not be "revisited," that was it, right?
As I sit here and try to think about these last five weeks, everyone from President Donald Trump to US Senators, Congressmen, Attorney Generals and state legislators have chimed in about the decision.
We've had parent protests outside the Big Ten office, a Justin Fields led petition that drew 300,000 signatures, a group of Nebraska players sued the conference, and high-profile sports attorneys like Tom Mars threatening more litigation towards the conference.
There was the Thanksgiving model, the Dec. 29 model and other dome plans pushed by the league's return to play committee.
In fact, there was a time where it felt like that was going to happen - Big Ten teams playing in empty dome sites in the months of January and February.
None of this felt right or made any sense, especially as we sat in our living rooms and watched Notre Dame play on Saturday, or teams like Kansas, Kansas State and Iowa State host football games less than 200 miles from Lincoln.
When the league voted Tuesday to return to play on Oct. 23-24, was I surprised? No.
Let's call it what it is. The Big Ten made the wrong decision on Aug. 11. They thought they were ahead of the curve coming out first, and if they stuck to their decision, the conference would've been set back for years. The decision was already being used against the league on the recruiting trail. Nobody knew the direction of where this was heading.
The Big Ten held their bad hand of cards at the table as long as they possibly could. This was the absolute latest things could've gone for the conference to play an eight-game league schedule and a Dec. 19 championship game - which allows teams like Ohio State, Penn State, etc. to be a part of the College Football Playoff discussion. It also allows a player like Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields to have a chance to win the Heisman Trophy.
I still couldn't imagine a scenario where the CFP and the Heisman Trophy ceremony would go on without the Big Ten's involvement.
Then there's Nebraska and Ohio State. A lot of credit has to go towards these two schools. They kept this fight going 12 rounds when Warren and the league tried to end it with an early knockout.
I truly believe NU and OSU simply keeping the ball in play, and not giving in to the decision played a factor over these last five weeks to create enough noise to keep the discussion going. By keeping the discussion going, that allowed more medical breakthroughs and advancements with COVID-19 to happen.
I laugh now when I go back and read the comments directed at Nebraska from Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde and ESPN's Michael Wilbon and Desmond Howard.
Forde, Wilbon and Howard's comments were out of line on Aug. 12 and they look even sillier on Sept. 16. It was the cool thing to do on Aug. 12 to pile on Nebraska because "they should know their place." Well, guess what, we are playing Big Ten football.
This was never about Nebraska being selfish. This was about standing up for what you believed in and standing up for your players and the people of your state.
Frost recognized a potentially bad decision was coming from the Big Ten. Ohio State soon followed NU in the public campaign.
That pressure kept the noise loud towards Warren and the Big Ten, and here we are today. Let's play some football.
