Football programs in the Big Ten now have a big challenge on their hands: Get ready to play football in just a few weeks' time.Â
For Nebraska, that means getting its rapid COVID-19 testing protocols dialed in and then figuring out how to take its full operation on the road to open an eight-game season against Ohio State on Oct. 24.Â
"It's (difficult to do) in a month's time in perfect conditions, but when you've got a worldwide pandemic and we've never tried this before," Moos said on the "Sports Nightly" radio show Tuesday. "We've got to go to Columbus, Ohio, to No. 2 Ohio State and we've got to be ready how we're going to occupy a charter aircraft, who's going to be going, the hotel piece of it — or are we even going to use a hotel? There are some schools talking about going in day-of-game and then returning after.Â
"We're still working on this on all of our campuses and we continue to have our morning calls among the Big Ten athletic directors as we carve out what the policies and procedures are going to be because we're playing in just a month."Â
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Moos said he hopes one good part of the Big Ten starting later than some other leagues might be that the conference can watch and learn from the issues that those others run into early in the season.Â
"I think we can learn from them. We certainly are following everything very closely," Moos said. "We’re hoping that there won’t be cancellations in our season, but I think it’s pretty much inevitable that there could be. Our footprint covers 11 different states from Nebraska out East to New Jersey and Maryland and everything in between. It’s got a lot of challenges to it.
"We’re watching, we’re seeing how people are handling these things and responding to those challenges and trying to learn along the way because we’re going to be the late guys into the game here. … The good news is we’ll be able to have seen how some of these things are working before we actually start our season."
When the Huskers do start the season, they face Ohio State, Wisconsin and Penn State in the first four weeks. Over the weekend, Moos questioned the fairness of that lineup. He expounded on that Tuesday night, but also said NU is ready for the challenge.Â
"It's a bit daunting if you look at it that way, but hey, we're going to have to play them at some point and maybe the best time to play them is early," Moos said of opening against the Buckeyes. "It's so important to establish momentum and morale early on and we're going to have to really work on that because we have our work cut out for us, but we're up to the challenge."Â
"The good news is we do have a schedule," Moos said. "Some have a tougher schedule than others, but that happens a lot in this business. We're ready to get after it. Our guys are ready to play, our coaches are ready to coach and I really feel our fans are ready to watch even though they're not going to be able to do it inside Memorial Stadium."Â
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* Moos said the Big Ten anticipates having Friday evening games as part of its eight-game slate, though schools do not have further information on kickoff times yet.Â
Along those lines, Moos said he and Iowa athletic director Gary Barta have jointly requested that the schools' game the final weekend of November be played on Black Friday.Â
The game is currently listed as being on either Friday, Nov. 27, or Saturday, Nov. 28.Â
* NU's football training facility will be through the design phase by the end of October or early November and the plan is still to "hit the pause button" at that point.Â
Moos said the hope at this point is to have shovels in the ground by May or June 2021, putting the project essentially on a one-year delay and on track to open in August 2023.Â
"This will be jaw-dropping, and I've been around building these things and watching these facilities for 40 years and I've built a couple of them myself in my career," Moos said. "This is going to be the finest, most beautiful, functional — which is very important — athletic facility in the United States."Â
* Moos began the appearance by offering condolences to Scott Frost and his family after the passing of Larry Frost, Scott's father, last week.Â
"It was a beautiful service yesterday, outdoors, very, very well done and a real tribute to a wonderful guy who was a pretty good football player himself for Bob Devaney in the mid-to-late 1960s," Moos said. "They showed some film clips at the service and Larry was a player, let me just tell you. A very talented wingback, grew up playing eight-man football here in Nebraska.
"We feel for Scott. Anytime you lose a parent, it's tough, and with all the other things we're going through right now, he'd appreciate thoughts and prayers, and I know he's getting a lot of them."Â