Illinois Football: Should the Illini look for a different conference in 2020?

It is pretty tense right now when it comes to the topic of college football.

On Tuesday, the Big Ten officially announced they are going to back out of the fall season and try to begin play come spring. This decision, right or wrong, will have lasting ramifications on the Illinois football team and every program in the conference.

In response to the Big Ten’s decision to not play this fall, there have already been a couple of programs exploring options about playing outside of the conference. Nebraska has been the most notable team thinking about playing with another conference for the season. Ohio State has also been mentioned as possibly looking for other temporary homes.

Honestly, purely from a football side of things, this makes complete sense and I don’t blame the programs one bit. The NCAA is going to decide whether or not to let players transfer out and have them be eligible immediately. If that would end up being the case, the Big Ten teams would be sitting ducks on a pond full of hunters.

Teams that play in the Big Ten could see a mass exodus of players transfer out so they can go play for programs that get to play this fall. The main players who would transfer, I would think, would be the seniors or graduate players. They need this final year to show off for NFL scouts and they can’t do that nearly as well if they play in the spring.

So, would it be smart for Illinois to explore playing in a different conference in 2020?

If it comes down to just football, I wouldn’t blame the Orange and Blue for trying to play this fall with a different conference. The team is made up of talented young guys and a lot of seniors and graduate players this season.

Illinois’ top quarterback, Brandon Peters, is in his final year of college. Top wide receiver Josh Imatorbhebhe is in his final year of college. It wouldn’t shock me to see both of them head to another program for their final year if Illinois stays in the Big Ten.

We then have to think of the young guys who have the talent to play right now but aren’t going to get the chance to in the fall due to the season being postponed. The possibility that Illinois, and really the entire Big Ten, could get gutted because of no fall play makes me sick to my stomach.

While I hope everything settles down, I wouldn’t blame Illinois or any Big Ten team from trying to hop over to another conference for a season. This would give the athletes the chance to play in the fall, and that is clearly what they have been wanting the entire time.