Indiana Football: Big Ten exploring football by Thanksgiving

The Indiana football team might be able to get on to the field before the new year as the Big Ten is exploring a new option for the season.

Reports are starting to surface that the Big Ten may be reconsidering their plan to wait until the new year to play football. The most recent report is from 247sports, saying a Thanksgiving start date might be in play.

There have been rumors floating around for a few weeks about the Big Ten switching course and playing in the fall, but nothing had come to light until today’s report. The latest report was that the Big Ten was looking to start in January and perhaps using dome stadiums to play games.

The rumor was that they would play in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, and Ford Field among other places. While we all love football in the snow, playing for the first time in the season in such adverse conditions would not have been the best.

But now we may get to see football even sooner. Since Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren postponed the season earlier this month, the conference has gotten a lot of blowback from players, coaches, and parents.

Junior quarterback Justin Fields from Ohio State even started a petition that at last checked had over 200,000 signatures. Parents from the Big Ten even went to the conference headquarters to protest the decision.

All of this plus the new rapid saliva testing have possibly led the Big Ten thinking twice about their decision. While everything shouldn’t come down to pressure, it may be in the best interest for the Big Ten to do this.

It is a perfect solution and one that may lead to only eight games, but that is still better than nothing. It would be better if they could align themselves more with the other Power 5 conferences, but as fans we will take it.

How this would affect the college football playoff and the chances for a Big Ten to be included is still yet to be seen. But in a time when so much is unknown the possibility of having a season sooner than later is a good sign.

It still has a lot of hurdles to cross but this is the most positive news we have heard in a long time. Let’s just hope they aren’t getting our hopes up for nothing.