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The Misleading Claims Of Dan Patrick’s Newest “Report” On Big Ten Football

Dan Patrick gave another report “from my source” regarding the Big Ten Conference. Illini Now/Sports Illustrated attempts to put it in proper context.

Matthew Stevens

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Dan Patrick gave another “update” on the status of Big Ten Conference football Tuesday morning on his nationally syndicated radio show.

We, at Illini Now/Sports Illustrated, want to unpack all the elements of this 2-minute and 26-second “report” and fact check the elements of it so you, the loyal reader and fan of the Big Ten Conference, can have the proper context and information going forward.

As we’ve stated before at Illini Now/SI, a misinformation campaign that is producing information folks can’t possibly trust is being spread nationwide and this Patrick “update” along with the one he gave Thursday have the potential to mislead the general public that follow news updates on the Big Ten Conference.

  • When Patrick starts his Tuesday “update” from his unnamed source with “the Big Ten is still very much up in the air”.

Analysis: We at Illini Now/SI assume that means the idea of playing a football season in the 2020-21 academic year. Because the Big Ten Conference isn’t going anywhere. It is still a Power Five Conference league that has 14 member schools just like it did last week, the week before and every prior week since Rutgers officially joined the conference in November 2014.

  • Patrick says “there is still a pushback from the medical community of the Big Ten to not play”.

Analysis: So, lets just add the words “right now” to end of that statement and Patrick may very well be accurate with this statement as Big Ten Conference officials are still trying to get the campuses of all 14 members schools at the same point in terms of rapid coronavirus testing and still don’t have consistent answers about contact tracing (which, it should be noted, none of the leagues which have decided to currently play football this fall have publicly addressed either). It should be noted that The University of Illinois has publicly stated in university media releases the COVID-19 protocols which require a weekly use of its rapid saliva-based COVID-19 test has helped not only the athletes but the entire student body campus. Last month, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker announced that state health officials would begin using the university’s new groundbreaking test after it was approved for wider use by the FDA.

"This news puts the University of Illinois and the entire state of Illinois on the cutting edge of testing innovation as a national player," Pritzker said during his August announcement. 

It should also be noted, as we’ve reported here before, Wisconsin athletics director Barry Alvarez is the chairperson of the Big Ten’s return to competition task force, which has gathered information about testing and unanswered health questions surrounding the coronavirus. Alvarez said Friday the subcommittee’s role is to put together multiple scheduling options and work with doctors to answer any questions of the Big Ten’s COP/C members.

  • Patrick then claims “they simply don’t have enough teams to play” and then claims the “Michigan teams, not going to play”, “Illinois teams, that’s Illinois and Northwestern are not going to play”, “Maryland is not going to play” and “Rutgers probably won’t play”.

Analysis: Okay so, we at Illini Now/SI are honestly confused by the statements of “they simply don’t have enough teams to play” unless Patrick is referring to the idea that there aren’t enough member schools to reverse the reported 11-3 vote in August to shut down the league’s fall sports calendar. The conference revealed the vote tally (which had Ohio State, Iowa and Nebraska voting to play football this fall) on Aug. 31 in a legal brief response to the lawsuit brought by eight Nebraska players, who allege that the Big Ten is in breach of contract by not following its own league by-laws with the football cancellation. The Big Ten Conference requires a 60% vote to certify an action by the league’s Council of Presidents and Chancellors and therefore, it would require a 9-5 vote to reverse this Aug. 10 decision.

However, Patrick stated Thursday “the Big Ten will have a revote on a return to play and it should happen on either Friday or Saturday”. It should be noted there was no revote by the Big Ten COP/C on either Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday or this morning. Furthermore, there isn’t one scheduled on the docket for the near future.

By giving Patrick the benefit of the doubt, his quote from his “source” of “they simply don’t have enough teams to play”, might be interpreted to mean the league doesn’t have the six votes needed to overturn the original 11-3 vote on Aug. 10 on this alleged revote that was never confirmed by any legitimate news outlet.

  • Patrick then says “the medical community of the Big Ten is trying to push to November now” and added “it was Oct. 10, that was the start date so they could get in a 10-game schedule and qualify for the postseason”.

Analysis: We at Illini Now/SI can not stress this enough. The Oct. 10 start date was never reported by any national or local media organization and our reporting can verify this was not a viable option. To quote Yahoo Sports reporter Pete Thamel’s piece following President Donald Trump’s first public tweet on Big Ten football starting “immediately”, “to say multiple sources denied the notion of the Big Ten playing immediately would not be strong enough”.

On Friday, Sept. 4, we at Illini Now/SI specifically asked a spokesperson for Illinois athletics this question: “If the conference was planning any season to begin five weeks from now, would your athletics department be given a heads-up to start preparations?” The spokesperson responded via text: “I would certainly think so”. Iowa athletics director Gary Barta, whose boss was one of the three members of the Big Ten’s COP/C to vote in August in favor of playing fall sports, said last week there would need to be a medical “miracle” in order to start a football season in October.

  • To continue with his Tuesday morning report, Patrick then said on the Oct. 10 start date: “I don’t think that is going to happen”

Analysis: We at IlliniNow/SI simply have no way to verify Patrick’s Thursday report or the one this morning that suggests Big Ten Conference football was ever planning for a Oct. 10 start date. Also, to suggest the November date is being discussed now is misleading as the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported on Aug. 28 citing “two college football people familiar with the Big Ten” that a eight-game season was being worked on with games starting the week of Thanksgiving.

  • Patrick then added Tuesday morning: “You’re going to have eight teams? Is that enough?”

Analysis: We at IlliniNow/SI believe we can answer these two questions. 1) No, you’re not going to have eight teams play and six teams not play. 2) No, that’s not enough because eight is not 14. Illini Now/SI is just not clear on this notion that the Big Ten would play a football season without its entire 14-school membership because just like the last vote, a vote (no matter the results of that vote) on a winter or spring football schedule would be honored by the entire 14-school membership.

  • Patrick then adds Tuesday: “There’s a lot of players not wanting to practice because, do we even have games this year?”

Analysis: The back half question is a legit question but Illini Now/SI can verify after speaking to sources inside the Illini football program, that Lovie Smith's team will continue to operate under the 12-hour rules of practice and meetings set up by the NCAA and Big Ten Conference offices.

  • Patrick then added Tuesday: “My source said after speaking to a Big Ten coach, they are really disappointed that Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren has gone silent”.

Analysis: It is a safe statement to make that the consensus opinion public relations handling of this situation by Warren has been unfortunate but the silence of most of the COP/C members, including University of Illinois Chancellor Robert Jones, has been disappointing. However, Thamel made an interesting point on the podcast with Yahoo Sports colleague Dan Wetzel and Sports Illustrated senior writer Pat Forde that “being a university president right now during COVID-19 is not an easy task and they’re trying to manage billion-dollar budgets and endowments and athletics is like two percent of its overall budget”.

We at Illini Now/SI hope this context and fact checking helps in keeping you, the loyal reader and Big Ten Conference fan, properly informed as we all continue to wait on news of a winter or spring football season. 

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Matthew Stevens
MATTHEW STEVENS

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