Report: Big Ten to Play Conference-Only Schedule in 2020

A conference-only schedule from the Big Ten could set off a slew of similar decisions across the country

The Big Ten is expected to announce a conference-only schedule for 2020 according to a recent report from The Athletic's Nicole Auerbach. 

This move would would directly impact the Big 12. West Virginia is currently scheduled to meet Maryland on Sept. 19 and Iowa State was to renew yearly rivalry with Iowa on Sept. 12. 

Texas' non-conference schedule includes a Sept. 5 game home game against USF, a Sept. 12 trip to Baton Rouge to take on LSU and a Sept. 19 game at home against UTEP. 

The report comes just one day after the Ivy League became the first NCAA conference to suspend all competitive sports through the end of 2020. The league was also the first to cancel its conference basketball tournament earlier this year, setting off a domino effect that led to the outright cancellation of the college basketball postseason just two days later. 

If true, the Big Ten's decision could set off a slew of conference-only schedules across the rest of the Power Five. It is not known now whether these teams will go to a round-robin 13-game schedule or play their traditional conference slates and just trim several contests off the beginning of the year. 

The Big 12 is in a unique position among Power Five conferences as the only league with 10 members rather than 14. If other conferences go to a full round robin for the 2020 season it would leave Texas and other teams with the decision to either scrounge up three more noncoference games or potentially play less contests than the rest of the Power Five. 

To get the latest Texas Longhorns Posts posts as they happen, join the Texas Longhorns Community by clicking “Follow” at the top right corner of the page (mobile users can click the notifications bell icon), and follow Texas Longhorns SI on Twitter @LonghornsSI