Illinois Football: Illini won’t be playing in 2020 and it is depressing

It is official, the Big Ten will not play football this fall in a decision released on Tuesday afternoon.

In breaking news first reported by Pete Thamel of Yahoo! Sports, the Big Ten is deciding to postpone the fall football season and will try to restart everything back up in the spring. This is a decision that is sending Illinois football fans into sports depression and players into confusion and anger.

Illinois players weren’t shying away from the social media stream after the announcement was made either.

There will be some ripple effects on what was announced today. One of the ripple effects is to see what other conferences out of the power five end up shutting down.

As of right now, the PAC-12 is looking like they are about to shut their doors for the fall. But I think that might end up being the only other conference. Shannon Terry of 247Sports is reporting that the ACC and SEC are going to push through and likely have a season. That means there will be some college football on this fall.

But with some teams playing also brings up another big worry that I have right now. That worry is transfers and the possibility for Illinois to have some key guys depart the program so they can play this fall.

Mainly, I am looking at seniors and graduate transfers. Illinois has a few big names who want to show the NFL scouts that they are good enough for the next level.  Some names include quarterback Brandon Peters, wide receiver Josh Imatorbhebhe and his brother Daniel. I am also worried that some big-time talent could depart that is young but could be eligible immediately due to the ongoing situation. The players that come to mind include Marquez Beason and Reggie Love. We can’t afford to lose these two studs.

The Big Ten deciding to not have football this fall will have massive ramifications. I am curious to see if anything happens to the Illinois roster over the next couple of weeks.