In early August, I wasn’t convinced we would see any college football this fall, as many conferences around the country were postponing their seasons until the spring semester. However, there are a few conferences playing this fall, and several began their seasons last weekend.

This weekend, the three in-state schools will open up their seasons.

In the case of the American Athletic Conference, the league has postponed soccer, volleyball and other fall sports to the spring, but football is going to play this fall. That means the University of Tulsa will open its season at Oklahoma State this Saturday evening, at 6:30 p.m.

Oklahoma will open up at home against Missouri State at 6 p.m. Saturday.

Why is it that football can play in the midst of this pandemic, but other fall sports can’t? Nobody seems to be able to give a clear answer to that. I suspect it’s a money thing.

Football is a high revenue sport, both in expenditure and income. It costs a lot of money to field a football team and to schedule travel, meals, etc. To cancel all that and delay to the spring would be difficult and costly for a number of universities. Plus, figuring that only half of the conferences across the country will be playing this fall, that means more television exposure and money for the conferences and schools that do play right now.

The conferences that are playing this fall include; ACC, American, Big 12, C-USA, SEC, and Sun Belt. Some of these participating schools have cancelled their nonconference games and will play a conference schedule only, others are keeping a few nonconference games on the schedule that are within a geographic area and within driving distance.

It is still up in the air whether the Big Ten and PAC 12 will play this season. Both conferences are looking at many possibilities and could go to a conference only schedule beginning Week 4 or Week 5.

The big question has been, if several conferences aren’t going to play until the spring, what about the college football bowl games?

According to an Aug. 5 press release from the College Football Playoff committee, the CFP will go on as scheduled, and the CFP selection committee will release its final rankings of the 2020-21 season Dec. 20. The final rankings were originally scheduled to be released Dec. 6.

 The top four teams will participate in the Playoff Semifinals Jan. 1, in the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl. The national championship game will be played Jan. 11, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.

“With recent schedule changes for the regular season, it makes sense for the committee to make its final rankings after the conference championship games, when it can get a complete picture of the season,” said CFP executive director Bill Hancock. “The selection committee members understand the need to be flexible as we all navigate uncharted waters this season, and this move will allow them to evaluate all the available information.”

The Management Committee also shortened the post-season travel time for teams. The two teams participating in the CFP National Championship will arrive in Miami on Saturday afternoon, Jan. 9, instead of the usual Friday evening arrival. The Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl and Peach Bowl will follow a similar three-day schedule.

“In this unprecedented time, the Management Committee believes it is in the best interest for the health and safety of the student-athletes, coaches and staffs to complete their game-week preparation on campus, under the familiar protocols they will have used all season,” said Hancock. “This is an unfortunate consequence of the pandemic, but it is the right thing to do.”