:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/67040867/Links.0.0.jpg)
Football:
Hopes are very high for year two of the Duggan hype-train... whenever it kicks off.
He has the support of his coach...
Despite finishing with a losing record, Duggan has the full support of head coach Gary Patterson. Midway through the year, Patterson said Duggan “gives the TCU the best chance to win.” After beating Texas, Patterson compared Duggan to hot cocoa in terms of his development. “Everybody wants players to be like hot cocoa,” he said .” You just want to rip off the cover, pour it in, pour hot water in and then they’re a great player. Cocoa’s ready to go. It’s not that easy. It’s not that easy.”
...and his teammates are behind him
Patterson isn’t the only voice in Duggan’s corner. His teammates recognized from the start that Duggan was something special. “Y’all see,” receiver Jalen Reagor said after the Texas game. “He’s young, but in due time, he’ll be great.” Taye Barber, another receiver, praised his leadership against the Longhorns. “He just wanted to keep going, and score and put them away,” Barber said.
Things are trending downward for those hoping to watch the Frogs play at Cal on September 5th... :( And that doesn’t bode well for fall sports altogether.
With the Big Ten decision and with conferences lining up, will the SEC and Big 12 have no choice but to cancel nonconference games? Public pressure will build.
Schools will be scrambling to fill holes in their schedules. Among the Big 12 games scheduled against Pac-12 or Big Ten opponents: Arizona at Texas Tech, TCU at Cal, Oregon State at Oklahoma State, Iowa at Iowa State. And Texas A&M is scheduled to host Colorado.
“It obviously makes it more difficult,” Bowlsby said of the nonconference schedule.
For now the league is going to try to stay with a patient approach, Bowlsby said.
“We’ve been advised to go slow and constantly re-evaluate what we’re doing and move ahead as long as scientists and medical personnel are telling us it’s safe to do,” Bowlsby said.
With the Big 12 headquarters in Las Colinas, Bowlsby is very much aware of the COVID-19 spike in Texas, home to four conference members. Dallas County alone has reported at least 1,000 cases each day this week.
“We’re certainly paying attention to that and watching carefully, but so are our scientists and doctors,” Bowlsby said. “They are the ones that really help us make the evaluations.”
UNLV QUARTERBACK BATTLE: KENYON OBLAD VS. JUSTIN ROGERS IF NCAA RULES ROGERS ELIGIBLE | SportsLine
Curious about Justin Rogers’ status at UNLV? Well, here’s an update on the former Frog.
Rogers clearly has a high ceiling but is largely an unknown as he played just once game at TCU because of a redshirt season and knee injury. It’s always hit-and-miss whether the NCAA will approve an immediate eligibility waiver. If it does, Arroyo will have an interesting decision to make.
UNLV has finished with a losing record for six straight seasons. Coach Tony Sanchez was fired in November with a 20-40 record. Arroyo replaced him and was formerly the offensive coordinator at Oregon. The Rebs’ profile could be on the rise considering they will start playing home games in that sparkling new Allegiant Stadium, which was built for the NFL’s Raiders.
Around the Big 12:
Big 12 commish: No immediate plans to adjust schedule | 247 Sports
The SEC and Big 12 will be the last dominoes to fall... if they fall at all.
“When asked if the Big 12 planned to announce soon the likelihood of a conference-football-games-only plan, commissioner Bob Bowlsby responded to me one word: No,” Randy Peterson of the Des Moines Register tweeted.
Bowlsby was on a conference call with the Big Ten commissioner Thursday morning.
“Big 12’s Bob Bowlsby said he was on a conference call this morning with new Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren, who gave no indication of conference-only schedule move. Bowlsby: ‘I believe it’s early to make that sort of a decision but perhaps they have a different perspective,’” The Dallas Morning News’ Chuck Carlton tweeted.
If the Big 12 cancels its non-conference schedule, a couple of notable games against SEC foes would not take place this fall. Texas is scheduled to face LSU in Baton Rouge, La., while Oklahoma is slated to meet Tennessee on Sept. 12.
The Big Ten is the only P5 league to officially announce a conference-only schedule, but it is being reported by multiple outlets that the ACC and Pac-12 will do the same.
Big 12 bands, spirit squads will not be at road games in 2020 | 247 Sports
Kiss off, Boomer Sooner. (but really this sucks)
“We have informed our band and spirit squads that there will be no travel to road games this year,” Texas Tech senior associate athletics director Robert Giovannetti said, according to LubbockOnline.com. “I don’t know if the word would be ‘mandate’. I just think all the schools agreed, for safety and social distancing and everything, it would make the most sense.”
That being the case, there will still be home games which, as of now, fans will be allowed to attend and the band will have to sit somewhere at those games. In most cases, the band sits in the same stands as fans. Giovannetti told LubbockOnline.com that after conversations at the school, the hope it to get, “as many band members there are as possible,” into the stadium for home games.