For now, Frontier football is officially a go

The NAIA has officially decided that its 2020 football playoffs and national championship game won't be played until sometime in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. And that goes for all NAIA fall sports.

However, for now at least, the Frontier Conference will go forward with a fall football schedule.

The NAIA"s football announcement came Thursday night, and less than 24 hours later the Frontier Conference Council of Presidents, along with the league's athletic directors, met Friday and approved an eight-game Montana-only fall football schedule. The league also announced that cross country and golf schedules would be played as-is this fall, while volleyball, which doesn't have its national tournament held until possibly April, has yet to be decided.

"These decisions were made with the health and well-being of student-athletes, coaches, administrators and sports communities being placed as a top priority. School administration and safety teams are working hand-in-hand with local community health departments in our various communities along with keeping up to date with the latest Center for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines that are being sent out from the national office regarding the COVID-19 pandemic," the Frontier's statement Friday said.

Of course, everyone around the league, and the state for that matter, were waited with baited breath wondering what was going to happen to the football season and, for now, they know.

"We decided to have an eight-game schedule," Northern athletic director Christian Oberquell said. "It will be a round-robin format like the old Frontier days, since it's only the Montana schools."

Indeed. In July, the Cascade Conference announced that it was postponing all fall sports. While the conference doesn't sanction football, the Frontier's three out-of-state football schools are full-time members of the CCC. And, all three schools, Southern Oregon, Eastern Oregon and College of Idaho, decided to go along with the postponement and opt not to play football until the spring of 2021.

That left the Frontier with the viable option of being able to possibly construct an all-Montana schedule, which meant not having to worry about crossing state lines or long travel trips.

"At this time the Frontier Conference will play an eight-game round-robin conference schedule among the five Montana schools beginning in the fall of 2020. Practice and contest start dates are those set out by the NAIA Guidelines. These dates may be subject to change as recommended by the institutions and local health officials. The Frontier Conference will plan to participate in the post-season whenever the NAIA championship dates are set for next spring," The Frontier's statement read regarding football Friday.

The league also quickly approved a new schedule, the third one since the coronavirus pandemic began.

MSU-Northern's schedule has the Lights keeping a road game at Montana Tech as their season-opener Sept. 12. Northern will then have a bye the second week of the season. The bye week under the new schedule won't be league-wide like it is under normal Frontier schedules. Each team in the league might have a completely different bye week.

Northern's home opener, originally against Southern Oregon Sept. 26, will instead be the same day against Rocky Mountain College. The Lights hope that day will be their first game in the new on-campus stadium at MSU-N.

The Lights will then play four games in October, starting Oct. 3 at Carroll College. MSU-N then plays back-to-back home games against Montana Western and Tech, followed by another bye week before playing at RMC Halloween. Northern closes out the season at home against Carroll Nov. 14 at Western.

Of course, the winner of the Frontier will receive an at-large berth to the NAIA playoffs, but if the league does complete a fall schedule, that team might have to sit idle for some time before the playoffs. The NAIA hasn't announced a playoff schedule or dates yet, only that the tournament, like all fall championships, has been moved to the spring.

The same is true for cross country, volleyball and soccer. The golf championships have always been in the spring.

"At this time the Frontier Conference will participate in cross country meets as well as host the conference meet in the fall of 2020. Practice and contest start dates are those set out by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Guidelines. These dates may be subject to change as recommended by the institutions and local health officials. The Frontier Conference will plan to participate in the post-season whenever the NAIA championship dates are set for next spring.

"At this time the Frontier Conference will participate in golf tournaments as well in the fall of 2020. As in past years the Frontier Conference will hold the conference golf tournament in the spring. Practice and contest start dates are those set out by the NAIA Guidelines. These dates may be subject to change as recommended by the institutions and local health officials. The Frontier Conference will plan to participate next spring in the post-season on the NAIA championship dates that are presently set," Friday's statement read.

As for volleyball, Oberquell said a meeting has been set for this Thursday to finish a decision on the season. Like football and other fall sports, if the Frontier approves a fall schedule, teams that reach the NAIA postseason will a lot of time off.

"I think you'll see the NAIA make a lot of adjustments with that," Oberquell said. "There will be a lot of leeway because in the game of volleyball, if the national tournament isn't until late spring, and the Frontier champion is done in November, that's four months without competition. So there's going to have to be some allowances made there."

Obviously, there's still a lot yet to be determined but, at least for the time being, the Frontier Conference is among those that have decided to give it a go in the fall.

"The Frontier Conference will continue to closely monitor and adjust as necessary to protect the health and safety of all involved in our athletic programs," the Frontier said Friday.