By: Dave Collins, Sports Director
It's going to be the Wild West of an RMAC football season.
The league announced Friday afternoon that it's giving control to schools individually on scheduling decisions, opening up the ability for conference and non-conference games at the discretion of each institution.
RMAC Commissioner Chris Graham said, "The removal of the championship structure in the spring will allow our programs to independently administer seasons in a way that fits individual opportunities and interests."
What?! A "build your own schedule" scenario? It sounds too wild to be true but it does make some sense. Schools across the league face varying differences in budgets, geography, logistics, team-structure, COVID-19 scenario, class attendance policies on campus or digitally, and on-and-on where the decision to let schools hammer out a schedule that fits their local needs and/or restrictions is a sensible way to go.
Does Chadron State schedule 10 games, the maximum allowed by the NCAA for the 2020 season? Do the Eagles schedule only five games so that the entire team keeps its season of eligibility moving forward but still gets in a handful of action?
These are questions the coaches and administration will wrangle with next, and after Coach Long said this week on our Jay Long Show podcast that his staff would be speaking individually with players about their plans to opt-in or opt-out, it stands reasonable that the team itself could have the loudest voice in how CSC lays out its slate of games.
Coach Long also told us one of his top priorities was to protect the eligibility of his players, so the Eagles may only play five times to give everyone another year. If the school, or even by player vote, decide to get closer to a full season I wouldn't expect CSC to play any more than eight games in the spring with the hopes that things return to a normal 11 game schedule in the fall of 2021.
Conferences across the country are still making their plans, remember rules and options are changing by the day, but for now the possibilities are really fun to dream about...
The Rivalry Tour: CSU-Pueblo, Black Hills State, SD Mines, Colorado Mines and UNK.
The Non-Con Bonanza: Kearney, Wayne State, Western Oregon, Missouri S&T, Northern State. CSC would face the arch-rival Lopers, former offensive coordinator Logan Masters and former defensive coordinator Jeff Larson, and play the originally scheduled non-conference games for 2020.
The MIAA Corn Belt Showdowns: at Pitt State, at Northwest Missouri, Central Missouri, UNK, Washburn. This would essentially be an RMAC-MIAA conference challenge, something I've been hoping to see one week per season as an annual game at some point. For this wild year, let's go all out and play five of 'em and add five RMAC games for a full slate!
What's really going to happen? My guess is the Eagles will absolutely schedule (1) Black Hills State and (2) SD Mines, they're close and they're rivals. (3) CSU-Pueblo will also be a must-schedule. I think (4) Western Colorado makes the list with all the CSC tie-ins on the WCU coaching staff, plus it was supposed to be the season-opener and I just have a feeling we want to play this one and get some revenge for last year's 33-32 comeback that came up just short in Gunnison.
As for the fifth game? If it's in the league the natural pick would be Colorado Mines for the rivalry and proximity factors, but I don't know that the Eagles want to face the Orediggers and ThunderWolves in the same season if they don't have to. Colorado Mesa is a long drive, but it's two teams trying to regain a place at the top of the league that have played some great games in the last two seasons, which would make facing the Mavs for the fifth and final game a good pick.
But, this scheduling frenzy isn't all fun. It comes with a conference championship cost. The RMAC has eliminated the conference championship for 2020, so there will always be a blank space in the history book.
"After the difficult decision last week by the Council to move fall team sports to the spring, and following consultation with football coaches and athletic administrators, it became clear that many factors would interfere with the conduct of a true championship season." said RMAC Commissioner Chris Graham.
With no conference championship on the line it will be a treat to see how things unfold and how creative teams get with their schedules to the delight of their players and fans while they've got a one-year hall pass.