Clemson’s Danny Ford calls 2020 football season ‘a gamble that you can’t lose’
Clemson legend Danny Ford doesn’t have the task of deciding whether or not there should be a college football season in 2020. For that, the Hall of Famer is thankful.
Ford believes schools and leagues are in a tough predicament as they try to navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic and choose whether or not they should play football this fall.
As of now, the ACC, SEC and Big 12 are planning on playing this season, while the Big 10 and PAC 12 have moved their seasons to the spring.
“I think it’s a big gamble either way. It’s a gamble that you can’t lose,” Ford said Monday at the Sharone Wright benefit golf tournament in Clemson. “There’s a gamble if you play of somebody dying or getting hurt. If you do play, you wonder why the other people didn’t play.”
Ford is disappointed that Power 5 conferences did not make a joint decision for this fall and instead decided to break off into two groups. Ideally, he would have liked for the Big 10 and PAC 12 to wait longer before deciding what to do.
“Anytime you have a split decision, somebody’s going to be right and somebody’s going to be wrong. You can’t afford to be wrong,” Ford said, adding that there’s a lot at stake for leagues that canceled early. “They lost playoff contention, they lost TV revenue, they lost money to operate the school on. ... On the other hand, if they start playing and don’t finish, how does that look? That don’t look real good. If you’re not going to finish, why did you start? And how much money did you waste starting that you could’ve used for different reasons.”
The two biggest questions Ford has — how many players will get the virus during the season and what are the long-term health effects? He doesn’t have those answers, and he isn’t sure anyone else does.
Ford believes medical experts should ultimately decide whether or not it is safe to play football this fall and not football coaches. Clemson coach Dabo Swinney has been very vocal in stating that he believes a football season can be played safely in 2020.
“I feel for anybody that’s trying to make a decision and doesn’t know what they’re doing. I can’t be convinced that any coach knows what’s right,” Ford said. “There’s nothing wrong with coach Swinney. I wouldn’t know. Coach (Frank) Howard wouldn’t know. The greatest coach in the world wouldn’t know what’s right or wrong, because we have never experienced what they’re experiencing now, and they don’t have any results on it. It’s a tough deal.”
No matter what ultimately happens this fall, Ford said “it’d be an asterisk beside everything for sure” with two Power 5 leagues opting out.
Even with the ACC, SEC and Big 12 planning on playing as of now, Ford isn’t convinced they will be able to follow through.
“My personal opinion, I’m not sure that they’re going to have a football season this year. But I’m not sure that they’re not either,” Ford said. “But it’s not going to bother me either way, because I’m not going. I’m going to watch it on TV if they play. If they don’t play, then so be it.”
This story was originally published August 18, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
