In college basketball, the scene of an African-American coach cutting down nets to celebrate a national title is nothing new.

Just like the other conferences returning to fall ball, the MAC cited advancements in COVID-19 antigen testing as key to the change of direction. The conference will begin testing athletes four times per week, starting Oct 5. If all goes well, by the first weekend of November, there will be college football from coast-to-coast. The pandemic is still not under control in many states, but college football will go on in front of empty stadiums or limited attendance. Especially if you’re doing them on a daily basis.”___Follow Ralph D. Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP and listen at http://www.westwoodonepodcasts.com/pods/ap-top-25-college-football-podcast/___More AP college football: https://apnews.com/Collegefootball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25More AP college football: http://apnews.com/Collegefootball and http://www.twitter.com/AP_Top25

Guarantee games, or buy games, are essential to many athletic departments that field Division I football teams but have far smaller budgets than those at Power Five schools. This season, 39 major college football schools have scheduled a total of 49 buy games worth an estimated $65 million. The pandemic has made everything about the coming college football season uncertain. If the season is cut short or rearranged, conferences will prioritize playing conference games, which usually have more value both financially and competitively. Kent State, from the Mid-American Conference, has three guarantee games this season with Alabama, Kentucky and Penn State worth $4.95 million.