The likelihood of having college football in 2020 suffered a huge blow this week after the Big Ten conference canceled its season. While announcing the decision, Big Ten Commissioner, Kevin Warren, said that he had reached the decision after considering the advice of some top medical experts who warned that holding a season would be impractical because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Now that the Big Ten has canceled its season, many fans expect the remaining Power 5 conferences to postpone their seasons. Meanwhile, amid all the controversy, Scott Frost fought for Huskers till the end.

Frost had earlier voiced his opposition to a season cancelation. He claimed that his team would consider playing other teams outside of the Big Ten if the conference insisted on abandoning the season. However, his remarks have drawn widespread criticism from sports media personalities in the United States.

Frost attacked

A section of media analysts has attacked Coach Frost and the university leadership at Nebraska for threatening to pull out of the Big Ten. While reacting to Coach Frost’s comments, ESPN analyst, Mike Wilbon passionately criticized Nebraska for openly disagreeing with Commissioner Warren’s decision. Wilbon accused the Nebraska football program of having an inflated sense of entitlement, and he urged the remaining 13 teams in the Big Ten to kick the Huskers out of the conference.

The celebrated ESPN pundit argued that Nebraska had not achieved anything significant on the field to warrant its current agitation. Wilbon pointed out that the Big Ten has been in existence for 116 years, while Nebraska only joined the conference nine years ago.

In addition to Wilbon, 1991 Heisman Trophy winner, Desmond Howard, has criticized Nebraska for insisting on playing football this season.

In a recent interview, Howard claimed that Coach Frost and the leadership at Nebraska had disrespected Commissioner Warren by threatening to withdraw from the Big Ten. Howard observed that while the decision was not popular with other teams in the conference, Nebraska was the only school that had threatened to leave the league.

The former Michigan player claimed that Coach Frost should issue a public apology for making the controversial remarks.

Financial implications

It will be interesting to see whether Coach Frost backs down from his position to have his players play football this fall. While explaining his decision, the Huskers coach had claimed that the college program would lose $80-$120 million if the team failed to play this season. Coach Frost pointed out that the financial implications of canceling the season could be devastating for Nebraska. However, pundits have dared the team to walk away from the $50 million in guaranteed television revenue that it has received every year for playing in the Big Ten. It appears that the Nebraska football program is at a crossroads as it considers its future in the Big Ten.