Big Ten teams start sprint toward unusual football season

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Now that the Big Ten has a rescheduled kickoff weekend, coaches and players can start the sprint to opening day.

Expect a wild ride.

After postponing the season in early August, the league's 14 university presidents and chancellors have given teams five weeks to accomplish what typically takes months.

Teams must be ready to kick off by Oct. 24 for the start of a most unusual season.

With Big Ten reversal, Trump aims to score in battlegrounds

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump was quick to spike the ball in celebration when the Big Ten announced the return of fall football at colleges clustered in some of the Midwest battleground states critical to his reelection effort.

But his efforts to reverse last month’s decision to postpone fall sports in the conference because of the novel coronavirus were far from the only factor that led officials to change course.

The Big Ten was under enormous pressure to restart the season from athletes, parents, coaches and college towns that rely on football Saturdays to provide much needed tax revenue.