BETHEL PARK, Pa. – The Motorsports Council of Pennsylvania has been organized to advance all forms of racing across the state and will serve as the voice for racing in Pennsylvania.

With an emphasis on grassroots racing, the Motorsports Council of Pennsylvania will support racing with advocacy, education, and promotion.  An initial priority of the Motorsports Council of Pennsylvania is to highlight the economic benefits racing brings to the state, especially in many rural areas of the Commonwealth.

“We have been successful over the past few years working with state legislators and local officials which has resulted in racing being permitted in Pennsylvania during COVID-19.  An important next step is to create the Motorsports Council,” said promoter Alan Kreitzer, a founding member of the Motorsports Council of Pennsylvania.

The Motorsports Council of Pennsylvania has already begun identifying funding and tax relief from COVID-19 to support race tracks, small businesses and other related organizations.

“Racing has been impacted by the virus and is seeking support from the federal, state, and local government”, added Kreitzer.

Long-term goals of the Motorsports Council of Pennsylvania include:

• • Promoting the many economic and community benefits of racing.
  • Enlisting more public support of grassroots motorsports.
  • Establishing permanent relationships between Motorsports and Government Officials.

“As Chairman of the Pennsylvania Motorsports Caucus I welcome more input from the racing community,” said Representative David Maloney (R-Berks).  “Pennsylvania has approximately one hundred motorsports facilities and many more businesses which rely on the racing industry for revenue.

“I have enjoyed working with motorsports industry leaders over the past few years.  The Motorsports Council is an excellent idea to support racing.”

The Motorsports Council of Pennsylvania will be hosting an introductory information call for motorsports organizations Wednesday, Oct. 7, at 4 p.m. EST.  All tracks, businesses, and vendors are encouraged to participate in this call. Visit RacingPA.com for call information.

ROSSBURG, Ohio – Buddy Kofoid will freely admit he was surprised when his Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports team was extended an invite to this week’s Governor’s Reign at Eldora Speedway.

However, the 18-year-old from Penngrove, Calif., was quick to add he’s not complaining, either.

Kofoid will be one of 48 drivers trying to pocket the $52,000 payday that awaits at the end of Wednesday night’s headliner, part of a two-day event at the half-mile dirt track on Sept. 22-23.

He told SPEED SPORT in advance of the event that he was “fully prepared” to try and campaign his way in via the fan vote program that took place recently, but being told he was locked into the field allowed Kofoid’s KKM squad to focus all their efforts on preparing a top-notch race car well in advance.

“I didn’t think we’d have a guaranteed slot, honestly,” Kofoid admitted. “It’s a really cool deal for us. It’s definitely a lot of pressure, because this field is made up of pretty much the best guys from every big sprint car series that you can think of. To know that I made that list was pretty darn cool. Not to have to do the fan vote took a lot of hustling off our shoulders, and I’m sure a lot of people checked how to get into the race the same way that we did. So to see all that play out the way it did was pretty cool.

“It should be fun getting back to Eldora, too,” he added. “This will probably be the only sprint car race there all year, so to be able to do it and say we were a part of it will be really cool.”

Kofoid was quick to add that, for he and the other 47 drivers in attendance at the Governor’s Reign, “it will be a special feeling” to be a part of the lone sprint car event taking place at Eldora in 2020.

“There were a lot of races that had to be canceled at Eldora this year, obviously with the pandemic and how things have shaken out in Ohio, so to see that this race was actually going to be able to happen was really cool,” Kofoid noted. “Then to realize that we were going to be in the race was even cooler. Eldora is a tough place, but we ran pretty well at the 4-Crown (Nationals) last year with the Kunz sprint car. So hopefully we can repeat that again and maybe even go be a little bit better.

“Like I said, it’s going to be a tough race, but it’s really exciting to get back to Eldora and be a part of their only sprint car race this year.”

While Kofoid has been most known for his exploits behind the wheel of a KKM midget this season, picking up a win with the NOS Energy Drink USAC National Midget Series and six more with the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League, he does have some experience at Eldora in a winged sprint car.

Kofoid raced with the All Stars last September at Eldora during the 4-Crown Nationals, picking up a heat race victory and a fourth-place finish in the 30-lap feature.

The young Californian believes that experience, even though it might not be as vast as those he’ll be racing against Tuesday and Wednesday, will help him as he fights for a strong result.

“Eldora is kind of a niche place. It can take some time to get good there, and I still need some time there, but I’ve done a handful of sprint car races there and at least know a little bit of what to expect,” Kofoid noted. “Any race is better than no race at a track. To have that experience in a sprint car there, and particularly in Keith’s car a couple of times there, is also really good. I think we even have a little bit better package now than what we had last year, and we had a fourth-place finish with the All Stars last year (at Eldora). So we’ve been working pretty hard on our stuff and getting ready for this; hopefully we’ll be pretty good.

“Like I said before, it’s a tough deal with all the guys that are there, but hopefully we can hit it right out of the gate and just be on top of it every time we hit the track.”

As for the task at hand, Kofoid knows that any attempt to win the race will likely go through Kyle Larson, who has earned 39 victories on dirt this season – including 30 wins in the Silva Motorsports No. 57.

“It’s a tough question; if I knew I’d be rich already, right?” Kofoid joked with a laugh. “I guess we just have to be the first person to cross the checkers before him, somehow. No matter who’s there, though, you want to be good every time you hit the track. That first hurdle, especially with the All Star format, is getting through qualifying … and then if you qualify well, you’re usually in a good position for your heat race. If you get through the heat race and have a little luck on your side with the pill draw, and continue to have speed from the heat race into the dash and main event … it’s just about moving from one thing to the next, I feel like.

“Putting the whole night together and being fast every time you hit the track is key to being on top of it. I think that applies for any type of racing, but especially any type of dirt racing that we do,” Kofoid continued. “We just have to start strong, have a little bit of luck on our side, and make sure all the speed is there. If we do that, I think you could see us with a shot at that big check before it’s all said and done.”

INDIANAPOLIS – Dreyer & Reinbold Racing announced Tuesday that it will compete in the NTT IndyCar Series Harvest Grand Prix doubleheader on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course on Oct. 2-3.

Sage Karam will return to the team to drive the No. 24 Chevrolet, which will have sponsorship from Oil2Soil.

It marks the third appearance of the year for the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing team at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

DRR previously announced its expansion of an Indianapolis 500-only racing program when the team competed at the IndyCar Grand Prix earlier on July 4 at IMS. For the past six years, DRR has competed only during the Indianapolis 500. From 2000 to 2013, the Dennis Reinbold-owned organization competed in the NTT IndyCar Series full-time.

Oil2Soil is a cost-effective and environmentally friendly absorbent for oil and lubricant cleanup, offering numerous loose fill and spill kit products.

Karam competed at the IndyCar Grand Prix on July 4 and DRR campaigned two cars with Karam and J.R. Hildebrand in the 104th running of the Indianapolis 500 on Aug. 23.

“Earlier this year, we announced our team would run more races in 2020,” said Reinbold. “We were at St. Petersburg ready for that event when the COVID-19 closed that weekend for the race. We then came back at the IndyCar GP for our first road race in seven years. I think we learned a lot about the road course car and looked to run another race. So, the Harvest GP doubleheader fit in well for our operation and we’re excited to introduce Oil2Soil to IndyCar racing. Sage also improved throughout the July 4 weekend and we believe he will have strong runs at the Harvest GP.  We look forward to the two-race weekend at IMS.”

Karam is anxious for his return to the IMS road circuit after the July 4 event.

“I’m very excited to return for the Harvest GP at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with Oil2Soil as a primary partner,” said Karam, the 2013 Indy Lights champion. “The DRR team did a great job preparing for its first road race in seven years and we improved each session we had at the July 4 IndyCar GP. We had bad luck in the race, but I think we showed that we gained speed with the No. 24 DRR Chevy. Our goal is to qualifying better from the July race. It was a physical race in July with the new aeroscreen and the hot temperatures. It will be cooler in October. I can’t wait to hit the IMS road course again.”

Big Picture

There's an unmissable irony in the ECB's decision to name their emergency first-class competition after the late, great Bob Willis. For Willis was not exactly the most enthusiastic defender of the ancient county system. As a player in his international heyday, he was renowned for phoning in the occasional Warwickshire performance to save his best for England, while in 2003, he was at the forefront of the Cricket Reform Group, a body which argued for the abolition of under-performing counties, and a subsequent reallocation of the game's limited resources.

And yet, when the trophy bearing his name, and adapted from a cubist painting by his widow Lauren, is presented - at a suitably social distance - to the winning captain at Lord's later this week, you can be pretty certain that Willis would be looking down on the occasion with approval.

For this has been a competition to savour in spite of the invidious circumstances. A short, sharp shock of first-class intensity that has satisfied the cravings of county cricket's die-hards, while giving a platform for the sort of conference system that Willis himself might have advocated. Certainly the notion of less-is-more is one that has traditionally been associated with Australia's Sheffield Shield (six teams, ten matches, one final) - not least during Australia's years of Ashes dominance in the 1990s and early 2000s - and while it would knee-jerk to suggest that the Bob Willis Trophy has provided a clear vision for the future of county first-class cricket, it would be remiss to ignore the buzz of interest that the format has created among those who find the marathon nature of the traditional league structure a touch too archaic for the 2020s.

Yes, it's been an imperfect competition, devised to fit a limited timeframe and featuring a messy qualification process in which three into two didn't go very easily, especially once the Covid-influenced cancellation of Northamptonshire's match with Gloucestershire had complicated the permutations. And yet, there was a pleasingly meritocratic thread to the available results - with a defiant upending of preconceptions in the first instance, as just one Test-hosting county, Yorkshire, finished in the top two of any of the three groups, followed by a worthy progression of the era's two outstanding teams to the showpiece final at Lord's.

Essex and Somerset, the cream of the crop, were involved in last summer's de facto showpiece too - a Championship final-round arm-wrestle on a Ciderabad special in Taunton, in which Essex did just enough to prevent their hosts from leapfrogging them to the title, with Alastair Cook reprising the dour survival methods honed at Ahmedabad and Mumbai to close out the contest with 83 preciously hewn runs in two innings.

Somerset's subsequent penalisation for a substandard pitch may have rendered that performance moot, but even that slap on the wrist - and their 12-point penalty, deferred to 2021 - comes with a curious footnote. Despite attracting opprobrium for tailoring their tracks to turn square (and in the process producing England's two frontline Test spinners - yes, you are welcome), their path to this year's glory-shot has been carved by their outstanding battery of fast bowlers - which suggests they may just be a quality outfit, irrespective of conditions.

More's the pity, therefore, that in a summer which was meant to offer a reconnection of cricket to its ostracised fans, it has not been possible to find a place for this contest in the TV schedules. Sky Sports' YouTube channel will have to suffice.

For Essex in particular, this week offers their squad a shot at county immortality, a chance to confirm a dynasty to rival the heyday of their Gooch-Fletcher era in the 1980s, and to take its place in the recent county pantheon, alongside Jason Gillespie's Yorkshire squad of the mid 2010s, and the Durham and Sussex outfits that won three Championships in quick succession since the turn of the Millennium.

And at a time when the ECB is casting an understandably beady eye on its counties' connections with their grass-roots, there can be no quibbling with the quality of Essex's homegrown credentials. Seven members of the first-team squad were born in the same Whipps Cross hospital as the club grandee, Gooch, while 70 percent were educated at state school too. Their two key imports, Ryan Ten Doeschate and Simon Harmer, have rapidly assumed legend status in and around Chelmsford. They are advocates for a system that works, no matter what the naysayers may believe.

As for Somerset, there would be few feats more typical of the county than finally claiming that elusive first-class crown in the one season that is destined to carry an asterisk.

Every year that goes by, it seems less and less likely that Somerset will be able to land the prize that torments them the most - especially given the quality of the players they have lost since they first rose to become true contenders ten years ago. Marcus Trescothick and Peter Trego, local legends both, have moved on, to retirement and to Nottinghamshire respectively, while next season their bowling stocks will be shorn of both Jamie Overton and Dom Bess.

And yet, Somerset too draw a strong local thread through their playing XI - the captain, Tom Abell and senior spinner, Jack Leach, are Taunton born-and-bred, while one of the brightest stars of the current campaign, the young opener Tom Lammonby, has been rustled over the border from Devon. They've got a West Country catchment area that promises recruitment and renewal for as long as their standards remain as high as they have been. But there's little doubt that some silverware wouldn't go amiss.

Form guide

(last five completed matches)

Essex WDWWW
Somerset WWDWW

In the spotlight

Simon Harmer's impact at Essex has been nothing short of talismanic in the four years since he arrived at Chelmsford. He's amassed 251 first-class wickets at 19.32 in that time, with 20 five-wicket hauls and five ten-fors, to provide the final stamp of class in the county's two Championship-winning seasons in three years. And that's excluding his starring role as captain of last season's T20 Blast-winning outfit. In this truncated BWT campaign, however, he's been more incisive than ever, his 34 wickets including a best of 8 for 64 against Surrey that was completed in spite of an abductor strain. In another era he would surely be a fixture in South Africa's Test team - and at the age of 31, he claims not to have given up hope of adding to his five Test caps, in spite of several smouldering bridges in his wake - but this opportunity to play a high-stakes five-day match at Lord's will stoke his competitive fires like few other challenges.

His brother Jamie is reputed to be the fastest bowler in the family, but there's something about Craig Overton's spirit for a scrap that has nudged him ahead in the pecking order - both at county level, where Jamie has been forced to seek pastures new at Surrey, and for England, who value the tenacity he has shown in four under-rewarded Test appearances to date, and clearly have him earmarked for a spear-carrier's role in next year's Ashes. But in Somerset's romp to the BWT final, Overton has shown himself to be more than just a willing toiler. His 28 wickets at 10.71 have provided the pointy tip of a spear that has conceded more than 200 just once in five games.

Team news

Essex's squad is broadly settled, with ten of the first-choice XI having played four or more of the five group-stage games. This includes the bolter in this season's campaign, Paul Walter at the top of the order, who took his initial chance when ten Doeschate succumbed to injury, and has latterly cemented his role as Alastair Cook's partner in the absence of Nick Browne. Browne's experience may count for something come Lord's, but so do Walter's numbers - an average of 49.00 and a top-score of 46 point to admirable consistency, especially against a seam attack of Somerset's quality.

Essex (possible) 1 Alastair Cook, 2 Paul Walter, 3 Tom Westley (capt), 4 Dan Lawrence, 5 Feroze Khushi, 6 Ryan ten Doeschate, 7 Adam Wheater (wk), 8 Simon Harmer, 9 Aaron Beard, 10 Sam Cook, 11 Jamie Porter.

James Hildreth's absence with a hamstring injury is a grievous loss to his county, not to mention a cruel turn of events for one of English cricket's great forgotten batsmen. At the age of 36, this might have been the closest to a Lord's Test that he was ever going to come. Jack Leach's availability post-England bubble means that Roelof van der Merwe is liable to be squeezed out despite featuring in four of Somerset's group-stage games. Dom Bess, England's No.1 spinner but Somerset's No.2, may also miss the chance to say an on-field farewell to his club, ahead of his permanent move to Yorkshire next season.

Somerset (possible) 1 Ben Green, 2 Tom Lammonby, 3 Tom Abell (capt), 4 George Bartlett, 5 Eddie Byrom, 6 Steven Davies (wk), Lewis Gregory, 8 Craig Overton, 9 Josh Davey, 10 Jack Brooks, 11 Jack Leach

Pitch and conditions

As the ground's first and only first-class fixture for 2020, there will be an inevitable sense of the unknown to this surface, even if Lord's wickets have tended to be predictably flat in recent seasons, influenced no doubt by the extraordinary moisture mainlining of the under-soil drainage system. It is a venue where teams have traditionally looked up, rather than down, when assessing their prospects. On that score, the first two days of the match promise typically autumnal mixtures of sun and showers, although the weekend outlook is more settled.

Stats and Trivia

• Essex are aiming for their fourth first-class trophy in five seasons, after winning the second division title in 2016, followed by County Championships in 2017 and 2019.

• Somerset are one of three counties, along with Northamptonshire and Gloucestershire, never to have won the County Championship. They have finished as runners-up five times since 2010, including in three of the last four seasons.

• Somerset were the victors on the previous occasion that a trophy was at stake at Lord's - the 2019 Royal London Cup, in which they beat Hampshire by six wickets in the tournament's final staging.

• Sam Cook is one wicket short of 100 first-class scalps.

• The final will be staged in association with Prostate Cancer UK. Willis died of the disease, aged 70, in December last year.

Quotes

""The best two teams in the country have reached the final. As things stand, Essex are the number one red-ball team and we are number two. It would be great to reverse those standings and that is the aim."
Jason Kerr, Somerset's coach, is eager to upset the prevailing order of county cricket.

The Denver Broncos are signing quarterback Blake Bortles to a one-year deal, a source told ESPN's Jeremy Fowler on Tuesday.

Bortles will join the Broncos after passing COVID-19 protocols, a source told ESPN.

Starting quarterback Drew Lock suffered a severe strain of the rotator cuff in his throwing shoulder on Sunday and will miss three to five weeks.

Jeff Driskel took over after Lock left Sunday's game in the first quarter. He wound up playing 64 of the offense's 77 snaps in the loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, completing 18 of 34 passes for 256 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.

Bortles spent five seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2014 to 2018, playing in 75 games and throwing for 17,646 yards with 103 touchdowns and 75 interceptions. He threw only two passes in three games during the 2019 season with the Los Angeles Rams.

Like many Big Ten fans, James Franklin spent the second Sunday in September frantically searching for good news.

The ACC and Big 12 had kicked off their seasons the day before, and now Franklin, the Penn State coach, was impatiently looking for an update from a meeting between the Big Ten's medical subcommittee and the 14 presidents and chancellors who would make or break the chances of playing football this fall.

"I harassed Sandy with probably 45 text messages, phone calls, trying to figure out what's going on," he said of his athletic director, Sandy Barbour.

"His '45' was about 145," Barbour joked.

Franklin's fellow Big Ten coaches were similarly in the dark.

"Crickets," one texted the night of Sept. 13.

"Nada!" texted another. "On pins and needles."

Yet another coach texted a GIF from "The Sandlot," with the famous line, "You're killing me, Smalls."

As Sunday dragged into Monday and Monday dragged into Tuesday without an official announcement, there remained a sense of cautious optimism.

Even after a month of tumult -- protesting parents, sharp-tongued coaches and letter-writing politicians and attorneys who had piled on the pressure -- the league presidents insisted they would not be swayed by anything but new medical information. Back on Aug. 11, the presidents voted 11-3 to postpone the season, so at least six presidents or chancellors had to change their votes to reach the 60% threshold for a fall season. And the entire council needed to know how the data and resources were different.

"For me, it wasn't about political pressure, it wasn't about money, it wasn't about lawsuits and it wasn't about what everybody else is doing," said Northwestern president Morton Schapiro, chair of the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors (COP/C). "It was the unanimous opinion of our medical experts."

Amid the backlash about the initial postponement, Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren launched a task force to explore how the league could get back on the field. The conference formed subcommittees for scheduling and television, but the most significant group would assess the changing medical landscape around COVID-19. Co-chaired by Penn State's Barbour and Dr. Jim Borchers, Ohio State's lead team physician, the 16-member group included three other lead team physicians, four other athletic directors and leaders in sports medicine, infectious diseases and campus health.

The belief around the league was the committee had one final chance to convince the COP/C that a fall season was safe. Otherwise, Big Ten football would not be back until winter or spring.

Even after their presentation, Borchers didn't know what to expect.

"I didn't feel one way or the other about what their decision would be or even how quickly they would make it," he said.

After a weekend of marathon meetings, the Big Ten presidents and chancellors voted unanimously that a fall season could take place. The league announced Wednesday that a nine-game season would begin the weekend of Oct. 24.

Through exclusive interviews with Borchers and Barbour, along with conference sources and detailed accounts from university presidents, athletic directors, coaches and league officials, this is the story of the meetings that saved the Big Ten's fall football season.

How the Big Ten got here

On Aug. 7, just two days after the Big Ten unveiled a 10-game, conference-only football schedule beginning Labor Day weekend, Warren met with the Big Ten's medical advisory group. The doctors raised what Warren later called "serious medical concerns," ranging from testing to contact tracing to potential cardiac issues. After consulting with the league's sports medicine committee and the infectious diseases task force, Warren held multiple calls with the athletic directors, presidents and chancellors from Aug. 7 to Aug. 10.

As the COP/C mulled what to do, two presidents had views that would largely shape the final verdict: Michigan State's Samuel Stanley, who has a medical degree from Harvard and a background in infectious diseases; and Michigan president Mark Schlissel, who earned his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins and has a background in bioscience and immunology.

According to a source, Stanley and Schlissel "carried the day" as the Big Ten presidents met.

Stanley declined comment through a spokesperson, and Michigan did not immediately respond to an interview request for Schlissel.

By late afternoon Aug. 9, most Big Ten presidents and chancellors favored postponing the fall football season. The large majority felt that the next time Big Ten football could be played safely would be in 2021.

On Aug. 11, the COP/C convened again and voted to postpone the fall football season. The decision and the process around it triggered a backlash the Big Ten had never seen before. Coaches, athletic directors, players, parents, attorneys and politicians -- from state leaders to President Donald Trump -- voiced their displeasure and demanded that the league reverse course.

Warren told ESPN on Aug. 11 that the decision was based on science and the uncertainties that surrounded COVID-19. He cited "a whole litany of issues," including a lack of uniform, daily testing throughout the conference; questions about contact tracing; an increase in caseloads nationally as teams were preparing for full-contact practices; and concerns about myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle caused by viral infections that had shown up in several Big Ten athletes who had recovered from COVID-19.

"I'm not a physician," Schapiro said. "When the medical team was divided, as they were five weeks ago, some people were convinced [the season could take place]. I wasn't, as you know, from the vote."

What needed to change

After the medical subcommittee formed, Borchers and Barbour received a list of concerns from the presidents. The list wasn't prioritized, but each item would need to be addressed with concrete data and expert opinion.

While most items affected every Big Ten school, some were specific to a handful or even a specific campus. At Maryland, where athletic director Damon Evans and head team physician Dr. Yvette Rooks both served on the Big Ten's medical subcommittee, the 2018 death of Terrapins offensive lineman Jordan McNair from heatstroke remained a painful reminder of the importance of proper protocols.

"I felt it was necessary for me to share that with my colleagues in the Big Ten, so that they would understand what we were dealing with," Evans said. "All along, we at the University of Maryland, as much as we wanted to play football in all of our sports this year -- they weren't going to be played unless we felt comfortable that we were in a position, not only as an institution, but as a conference, to move forward in a safe manner."

If the September decision was going to be any different, the medical information had to change, too.

"It's important that you are in a perpetual process of gathering information, analyzing information, setting high standards," Warren said, "and also looking at each other to say that we have now met those standards for our student-athletes to participate."

The Sept. 12 meeting marked the third time the medical subcommittee presented to the group of eight presidents and chancellors. Barbour said the steering committee was formed to provide guidance and give feedback. The first time they met, Barbour said the members of her group worked their "tails off" and thought they had the answers "before we really had them."

The steering committee wasn't sold yet.

"There were a number of things, some bigger than others," Barbour said. "I think really nailing down what the parameters would be around both the testing positivity rate [players only] and the population positivity rate [players, coaches, essential staff], that was really important. And then the second was more about the evolution of the testing. In that time frame, it was changing every day.

"They wanted a more specific recommendation."

In a lengthy but cordial meeting on Sept. 12, the medical subcommittee cleared its first hurdle with a presentation that outlined at least four rapid-response antigen testing options that would create daily, conferencewide testing and significantly decrease the need for contact tracing. The second component that further influenced the steering committee was a detailed plan to mitigate concerns surrounding myocarditis.

"Bigger picture, we had to give these presidents and chancellors a real solid way to save face on a reversal," a source said.

The subcommittee presented protocols that would require Big Ten athletes to miss at least 21 days following a COVID-19 positive diagnosis. Those with COVID-19 would go through a comprehensive cardiac screening that requires clearance from a university-appointed cardiologist before returning to competition. The Big Ten would create a cardiac registry used to study the effects of COVID-19 on athletes. The medical subcommittee recommended each school appoint a "Chief Infection Officer" to oversee the collection of testing data, which would be broken into color-coded categories -- green, orange and red -- to guide programs in their decisions about practices and games.

The most important elements of the presentation involved rapid testing, which had seen advances in technology and accessibility since the Big Ten's initial postponement.

"You're catching somebody with a positive before they're even contagious," said Dr. Jeff Mjaanes, Northwestern's head team physician and a member of the Big Ten's medical subcommittee. "That's a huge breakthrough in this. If we can do that on a daily basis, which is what's in our proposal, then we can identify people before they're even infectious, and we can remove them and really maintain the sanctity and the health of the team.

"With daily antigen testing, if you're able to identify somebody before they're actually contagious, and we can remove them, it almost completely eliminates the need for contact tracing."

Nebraska chancellor Ronnie Green was among the three Big Ten board members who in August voted to proceed with the season (Ohio State president Kristina Johnson and Iowa president Bruce Harreld were the others, according to sources). Green believed all along that football could be played safely, but he also noticed the testing advancements since the postponement.

"Knowing what we know today about point-of-care antigen tests is considerably more than we knew going into early August," Green said Wednesday. "That is something that has changed dramatically for us."

Mjaanes said the Big Ten also was able to "secure some workarounds" so that every school could have access to cardiac MRIs. Penn State, for example, formed a partnership with Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center so that any athletes who test positive will drive the 90 minutes to Hershey, Pennsylvania, for their cardiac tests. Heading into the Aug. 11 vote, a few Big Ten schools couldn't easily process cardiac MRIs, which are key in detecting myocarditis and other heart issues.

"That was the other game-changer," Mjaanes said.

Borchers said the medical subcommittee entered Saturday's meeting "unanimous" in believing that its plan "would allow us to have a path forward." Still, it tried to anticipate any additional questions the eight presidents and chancellors might have.

"You want to be confident in what you're presenting," said Borchers, a former long-snapper for the Buckeyes who became the athletic department's lead doctor in 2016. "You want to make certain, just like with anything, that we've done our due diligence and examined everything we needed to examine. You want to revisit what your recommendations are, and you want to make certain you can communicate it clearly and be prepared to answer the questions that will come. Our subcommittee and sports medicine committee put in a lot of work to make certain we were able to do that."

There also were discussions about how the fall football season would affect entire university communities. Borchers said one of the Big Ten's principles in starting competition was a plan that didn't take testing or resources away from those in need.

As of Sept. 15, Wisconsin had 2,160 students who had tested positive, according to The Washington Post, and all classes were being held virtually. At Michigan State, local authorities required students in 30 large residences to quarantine for two weeks because of a dramatic spike in cases. At Northwestern, freshmen and sophomores aren't allowed on campus because of the virus.

"I did grapple with that, thinking, 'Part of the campus is closed, and maybe you should just as soon play football when the campus is open, we hope, for the winter quarter at Northwestern,'" Schapiro said.

The Sept. 13 presentation to the entire COP/C lasted about 2½ hours, concluding in the late afternoon. Borchers made sure the subcommittee "didn't leave any stones unturned" and answered every question from the presidents and chancellors.

There would be no vote. A source said half the league was wondering how Michigan State's president, Stanley, would respond.

"We gave them the information that they needed to deliberate on and to consider," Borchers said. "I thought we did it effectively and successfully. I felt that we did our work."

'The facts change, our minds change'

While the college football world waited for an official decision, the Big Ten remained mostly silent. Behind the scenes, Warren communicated with the COP/C, the Big Ten's broadcast partners and testing companies (an agreement hasn't been announced by the league). Although Warren had led the formation of the task force and remained involved in the steps leading to the resumption of competition, he "took a step back," according to sources, and let the subcommittees present their case.

Sept. 14 came and went without much news, other than Wisconsin chancellor Rebecca Blank saying that whatever the league decided would be done in unison. (Reports had stated that some Big Ten schools might opt out of a fall season.) An answer appeared imminent Sept. 15 as a hot mic caught University of Nebraska system president Ted Carter saying that an announcement would come later that day. It did not.

The long-awaited vote occurred sometime between the afternoon of Sept. 15 and the following morning. Thirty-seven days after the postponement, the Big Ten announced a fall season was back on with the enhanced medical protocols outlined by the subcommittee.

In announcing the decision, Warren held a virtual news conference alongside Schapiro, Borchers, Barbour and two other ADs: Wisconsin's Barry Alvarez (chair of the scheduling subcommittee) and Northwestern's Jim Phillips (chair of the TV subcommittee). When the Big Ten originally postponed, Warren was the only person who spoke -- and only to a handful of outlets.

"He let Barry run the schedule, he let Jimmy run with the TV, he let Jim and I run with the medical," Barbour said. "Then he was the one who took the information to the presidents and chancellors; they're his bosses."

"There is no playbook for navigating COVID-19," Warren wrote in an email Monday to ESPN. "I am very confident in the leaders that we have -- from the Council of Chancellors and Presidents to our athletics directors, coaches and university administrators. I deeply appreciate our passionate student-athletes, their parents and our loyal and dedicated Big Ten fans and alumni. I believe that we will look back at this time and be proud that we put our student-athletes health and safety first and that we came out stronger and more united as a conference."

The week before the medical presentation, Schapiro, the Northwestern president, was not convinced about moving forward with a fall season. After hearing the arguments, he saw "no reason not to go ahead."

"Medical opinion changed," Schapiro said. "Paul Samuelson, the great economist, was once asked why he changed his mind, and he said, 'When the facts change, my mind changes.' Doesn't the same thing happen for you? The facts change, our minds change."

Bath's Premiership game with Gloucester on Tuesday (17:30 BST) will go ahead behind closed doors at the Rec.

However, a rise in coronavirus cases in the UK has led to the government putting those plans on hold.

"We are deeply sorry to share this news," Tarquin McDonald, chief executive of Bath, said.

"This [Tuesday] morning, our understanding was that our fixture was still able to go ahead and having put all of the safety measures in place, we were excited to be welcoming supporters back to The Rec.

"I would like to take this moment to thank all of our Blue, Black and White faithful, I know how disappointing this news will be for all of you. Public safety has to be our top priority and we will do everything we can to make sure that we can all return to the Rec safely once again in the future."

Bath are bolstered by plenty of returning strike runners out wide, with Anthony Watson, Semesa Rokoduguni and Joe Cokanasiga all in the squad.

Gloucester have scrum-half Willi Heinz available after injury, and lock Matias Alemanno makes his first start.

There are also a few reunions in this fixture, with Bath's Elliott Stooke up against his old club, while Gloucester have former Blue, Black and Whites skipper Matt Garvey and wing Matt Banahan in their line-up.

The home side have put themselves in a great position for the play-offs with their post-restart form, winning six of seven under club favourite Stuart Hooper's guidance to sit third in the Premiership.

Their Cherry and White rivals are targeting a top-half finish and the lure of Champions Cup rugby union next season, with just five points between them and Harlequins in sixth.

Bath: Watson; Rokoduguni, Joseph, Matavesi, McConnochie; Priestland, Spencer; Obano, Dunn, Stuart, Stooke, Ewels (capt), Ellis, Underhill, Faletau.

Replacements: Walker, Boyce, Judge, McNally, Reid, Chudley, Redpath, Cokanasiga.

Gloucester: Banahan; Thorley, Harris, Twelvetrees, May; Evans, Heinz; Rapava-Ruskin, Singleton, Balmain, Garvey, Alemanno, Polledri, Ludlow (capt), Ackermann.

Replacements: Walker, Fourie, Stanley, Slater, Reid, Simpson, Seabrook, Rees-Zammit.

The POWRi Lucas Oil WAR Sprint League wrapped up the Hockett/McMillan Memorial at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo., on Saturday night.

Keep up with all the action from POWRi all season long with a subscription to SPEED SPORT Network affiliate POWRi TV!