South Carolina football: Power Five conferences making decisions for 2020 season

Dan Patrick reveals that the PAC 12 and Big 10 have already decided to cancel the 2020 season. Where does that leave the South Carolina football program?

Early Monday morning on the Dan Patrick Show, host Dan Patrick made a surprising comment on the state of the 2020 college football season. Sources close to the emcee relayed a message that the PAC 12 and Big 10 have already made their decision to cancel the upcoming season.

Following the MAC’s decision to cancel their season, it was rumored that Power Five conferences would soon follow suit. Now, Patrick essentially confirms this, saying that the PAC 12 and Big 10 will be going public with their plans to cancel the upcoming year tomorrow.

Read Patrick’s full quote on the topic below.

"“The Big 10 and PAC 12 will cancel their football seasons tomorrow, the ACC and Big 12 are on the fence, and the SEC is trying to get a delay to have teams join them. The SEC is looking at exclusive tv contracts.”"

Patrick then followed up with his source, who claims that they’ve spoken to three Big 10 schools, with each saying that the cancellation is already a done deal.

Patrick then asked if the SEC is planning on moving forward with the season alone, to which the source responded, “They’re trying to buy time to see if the Big 12 or ACC will go along with them.”

What could that mean for South Carolina?

The SEC recently released its full season lineup, though the order of scheduled matchups has not yet been set. The Gamecocks will add Auburn and Ole Miss to its previously scheduled eight-game SEC slate. If the SEC is the only conference to move forward with fall football, then nothing is likely change.

But what if the SEC is able to sway, say, a couple of teams from the ACC into competing this fall? Could this reintroduce the possibility of a South Carolina vs. Clemson contest? Would the league move away from the conference-only 10-game schedule in order to add more out-of-conference opponents to the slate? Would the start date of September 26th be adjusted?

There are many unanswered questions, and this news, if it turns out to be true, could be detrimental to those hoping to watch college football this fall. One thing seems to be certain, though, and that’s that the SEC is still doing all that it can to start in September. Will anyone join them in this endeavor? Time will tell.