The Big Ten postponed its 2020 football season to slow the spread of coronavirus. The University of Maryland Terrapins will not play again until 2021.
The Big Ten announced the decision Tuesday afternoon. The move also scratched the seasons of several other fall sports. Men’s and women’s cross country, field hockey, men’s and women’s soccer and women’s volleyball will not play this year.
The Big Ten says it is exploring the possibility of playing their postponed seasons in the spring. The conference has not yet made a decision on whether it will play winter and spring sports.
The Football Bowl Subdivision, which is college football’s top tier, saw its first delay on Saturday when the Mid-American Conference dropped its fall games. Multiple conferences in the Football Championship Subdivision, the sport’s second-highest level, shelved their seasons in July.
The FBS and FCS will both allow conferences to play, if they so choose, but the Towson Tigers will sit the fall out. Their conference, the FCS’s Colonial Athletic Association, deferred its season last month.
The Terps started their training camp on Friday with hopes to squeeze in a season. As delays became more common, however, student-athletes started to push back. Some players, including Maryland running back Jake Funk, used #WeWantToPlay to show their continued desire to get back on the field.
To see the story by Jacob Baumgart as it originally appeared on Patch.com, click here.
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