After a month-long hiatus for some, college football is officially back for all 130 division one programs. Not only was this the right decision, but it’s the only decision that makes sense for the student-athletes, especially after the latest CDC numbers that were made public on Thursday morning. Not to mention, the brand new saliva-based rapid testing that has now been made available to these programs that were apart of the conferences that had planned on moving their football season to the spring.

Starting with the Big 10 last Wednesday, the conferences that canceled at first have now all rejoined the likeness of the Southeastern Conference, the ACC, the American, the Big 12, Sun Belt, and Conference USA. The decision to overturn the ban on the playing of a fall football season for those came after a successful month-long college football season to date.

Yes, there have been positive cases throughout some programs including Memphis, and Arkansas State, however, zero of those cases have resulted in hospitalization or death. It’s clear that although there is a risk involved with playing football this fall, the players and support staff are more than willing to take those risks and run with them.

Quite honestly, not only is playing college football this fall safe from a health perspective but’s it’s also needed for the American people to heal and relax from the hard times that have plagued us all over the last seven months. It might not be the college football we’re all used, but it’s college football and, for that, we should be thankful. College football has always been a melting pot of emotions for over 150 years, if college football can make it through one pandemic already and two World Wars, then college football and America can make it through this.

It might not make sense at times, but college football is the fabric that holds this country together, no matter if you’re from a holler in the hills of East Tennessee or from a big city like Dallas or Los Angles, one thing remains the same, college football for a lot of us is who we are.

As these conferences begin to open up, it’s important to stand strong, together as one, and enjoy this season for everything that it’s worth. Contrary to popular belief, it’s okay to be excited about college football this fall. Don’t let the narrative of the talking heads get to you, college football is back and better than before.

Kickoff dates are as followed:

SEC- This weekend
Big 10- Oct. 24th.
Mountain West- Oct. 24th.
Pac 12- Nov. 6th.
MAC- Nov.6th.