Nebraska willing to play outside of Big Ten if conference cancels football

Amid rumors that the Big Ten Conference could announce the cancellation of its football season on Monday evening or Tuesday because of the coronavirus pandemic, Nebraska coach Scott Frost declared he's ready to play outside of the league.

Per ESPN's Mark Schlabach, Frost told reporters on a Monday Zoom call that the Cornhuskers and possibly other member schools could look to reschedule campaigns if the Big Ten postpones football to the spring or cancels its conference-only season entirely. Frost said:

"We want to play a Big Ten schedule. I think the only reason we would look at any other options is if for some reason the Big Ten wasn't playing and only a handful of teams from the Big Ten wanted to continue playing. I think if that's the case, I think we're prepared to look at any and all options."

Frost continued:

"If I had a son, I would want him playing football. I think this is the safest place he could be, and a lot of schools around the conference probably feel the same way, that the safest environment we can put these guys in is an environment where they're being monitored constantly, being screened, being tested, being taken care of [and] being protected if they do get sick.

"I'm passionate about this because our guys want to play. I'm proud of who they are and they decisions they've made. I think it's our responsibility to make sure they respect this virus. I'm not a doctor and I don't understand a lot of these things. The medical experts that we're leaning on are the ones that are guiding our decisions."

Graham Couch of the Lansing State Journal tweeted that the Big Ten could make a final decision on football following a Monday meeting scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET: