Schoffel: This 2020 CFB season is still breathing, but for how long?

Some of the biggest names in college football pulled a WWE-style swerve late Sunday night -- well, technically Monday morning -- and there's a decent chance it's either going to save the 2020 season or drive the final nail into the coffin.

As reports began to surface over the weekend that the Big Ten was leaning toward canceling its fall schedule -- you know, the one that the conference revised and released FIVE DAYS AGO -- and aiming for a reboot in the spring, there was real concern among fans and media that it would be the beginning of the end.

That if the Big Ten called it a day, on the heels of the Mid-American Conference doing the same on Saturday, that it would be just a matter of time before the other Power 5 conferences followed suit and the whole season came crashing down.

It was a stunning turn of events, considering the fact that nothing had really changed with regards to the coronavirus in recent days.

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The infection numbers are still high, of course, but they were high before players in the ACC and elsewhere opened preseason camp last week. There were no reported outbreaks on campuses. No major announcements about players testing positive.

So what transpired between FSU and other schools kicking off practice on Friday and these reports that the Big Ten was caving?

That was the topic of many a conversation over the weekend.

On the surface, it made no sense. Why would that league announce its revised schedules on Wednesday and then pull the plug just days later? Why make your athletics programs jump through all of these hoops over the last three months -- coming up with all of the procedures and protocols necessary for a safe return of sports -- only to reverse course a month before the season?

It wasn't until I saw a Twitter post from veteran college football reporter Matt Hayes on Sunday that I got a real sense of what might be going on.

What that unnamed athletics director was referencing were recent demands made by players in the Pac-12 and Big Ten to their respective conferences.

The Pac-12 players struck first, asking for everything from an end to racial injustice to improved medical measures regarding COVID-19 to a 50-50 split of revenue between the schools and the players. They also demanded that universities tap into their endowments to ensure that all sports programs survive the current economic crisis.

I had a feeling that list was going to be trouble as soon as it came across my computer screen. Not because the players had done anything wrong by asking for some of those concessions, but I just sensed it would cause two major problems.

No. 1, the players -- and whomever is advising them -- were asking for so many things and making so many leaps of logic that their request was essentially a non-starter. Some of the things they asked for, such as the endowment request, made it clear that they didn't have a grasp of how the industry operates.

No. 2, the timing could not have been worse ... even though I'm sure they thought it could never be better. With virtually all universities and athletics departments facing financial calamities due to the coronavirus, I'm guessing the players thought this was the perfect time to make their voices heard. They would possibly never have more attention from their coaches, administrators and conference officials than they do during this crisis.

While that might be true in some circumstances, I don't believe this is one of them.

Many university presidents already are wary of trying to play a college football season during a pandemic. With so many potential bad outcomes, there was always a chance they were going to cut things short, even if these training camps went exceedingly well. For the players to essentially threaten to unionize on top of all that -- and make demands that were not realistic -- I feared it might cause some presidents to throw up their hands and just give up on even the idea of playing in 2020.

When we didn't see any other conference's players join that movement en masse, however, I assumed the movement had fizzled out. That they realized this wasn't the time to make that type of stand.

It was my first incorrect assumption of the week.

It was only a few days later that a group of Big Ten players did something similar. Shortly after that conference unveiled its revised football schedules on Wednesday, a group of B1G players announced their own demands, with most being focused on health-related issues dealing with COVID-19.

They wanted more testing than was being proposed by the NCAA, they wanted eligibility protection if the 2020 season either wasn't played or was halted early, and they wanted assurances that all COVID-related medical expenses would be covered by the schools.

While I didn't think this was necessarily going to help the chances of playing college football this season, it was clear that the players realized the Pac-12 demands were unreasonable. And they didn't even threaten a boycott.

If nothing else, this seemed like a proposal that the Big Ten presidents could at least sit down and talk through.

Apparently not.

Just three days later, we started hearing reports that the Big Ten was going to pull up stakes and make a push for the spring.

While I'm not suggesting that the players' intent to organize is the sole reason the Big Ten is ready to pull the plug, I think it might have been the final straw.

When Eric Barron was president of Florida State, he complained several times about how much of his time was devoted to athletics. He loved college sports and thought they played an important role in the university community, but he believed the headaches associated with it sometimes outweighed the benefits.

As you know, Eric Barron is now president of Penn State, and I'm guessing his views are shared by the vast majority of university leaders in the Big Ten. I would bet there are more than a few who merely tolerate all of the challenges that come with college athletics because of the massive exposure that the sports provide.

Even knowing that, even after seeing that unnamed athletics director's quote on Twitter, I still wasn't convinced that the players organizing was the reason the Big Ten was leaning toward punting on this season.

That is, until I saw the coordinated swerve from college football stars Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields and others just after midnight.

For several hours Sunday evening, Lawrence and other players -- including several from Florida State -- filled Twitter with pleas for the college football season to be played this fall. Using the hashtags #WeWantToPlay and #LetUsPlay, they called on college football officials to keep moving forward with the current plans.

Fans rallied around them. Media members (including myself) shared their posts. It seemed to be a spontaneous, authentic rallying cry -- the kind we see so often now in the age of social media.

Then shortly after 12 a.m., Lawrence, Fields and others announced they were now part of a movement across each of the Power 5 conferences. Saying they had held Zoom meetings with players in the SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12 and Big 12, they had a new list set of demands. And another hashtag, #WeAreUnited.

After the initial surprise wore off, what struck me about that list is how far the players have walked back many of the demands from earlier proposals.

I'm not saying that all of their requests could be reached -- the idea of unionizing college athletes is challenging for a lot of legal reasons -- but it was clear that the players believed this was their best chance to still have a season.

I think they realized that the Big Ten was going to give up on the fall, which could easily lead to a domino effect across the sport. So they came up with this new list -- apparently during a brief Zoom call Sunday night -- as a way to initiate conversations and address their concerns.

One of the organizers, Clemson running back Darien Rencher, actually used the phrase "Hail Mary" in one of his tweets shortly after midnight. I think he and others believed this was their last chance to help save the season, while also calling for as many concessions from the universities as they could get.

Some of the requests are reasonable. One or two will be difficult to pull off, at least before the start of this college football season. But perhaps there is enough to work with there that at least some of the Power 5 conferences will consider taking time to talk before shutting things down completely.

The Big Ten might be too far down the road to turn back. There are reports that nearly all of their university presidents are ready to push things back to the spring. By doing that, they will give themselves more time to figure out how to address the player issue, while also hoping for some improvement with the pandemic.

An announcement could come at any moment.

That doesn't necessarily mean that the ACC, SEC and others have to follow suit. And it's important to remember that this group of players does not officially represent every player in these conferences.

While a number of Florida State athletes got involved the initial "We Want To Play" movement, I only saw one share the list that went out after midnight.

So there's no telling right now where this will end up. I believe the leadership of the ACC and SEC strongly want to move forward with this season, and I think there's an outside chance they could continue even if the Big Ten pulls out.

But a lot of that is going to depend on how willing these university presidents are to even start a dialogue with the players given everything else that is going on. And even if they are -- and some sort of agreement is reached -- then there's still this little matter of the coronavirus to contend with.

I thought the Clemson running back's "Hail Mary" reference was appropriate when I first saw it. Now I'm not so sure it begins to describe what will be needed to save this season.

Contact managing editor Ira Schoffel at ira@warchant.com and follow @IraSchoffel on Twitter.

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Talk about this story with other Florida State football fans in the Tribal Council