NEW YORK — Big 12, Big Ten and Southeastern conferences postponed all football games this weekend, meaning the BYU Cougars will have the week off.
Due to the SEC's decision, the BYU-Mississippi State showdown has been called off — for now at least and perhaps for good. The earliest the two teams could play, according to their current schedules, would be Saturday, Dec. 8, which would probably be too late in the year to hold it.
A day after announcing its teams would play, the three leagues joined the Atlantic Coast, Big East and Pac-10 conferences in calling off the games, meaning there will be no major-college football on Saturday. The NFL also postponed its Sunday games.
The schools from the six major conferences plus Notre Dame form the Bowl Championship Series, which picks its top two teams at the end of the season to play in its national championship game.
This weekend, 116 games involving Division I-A and I-AA teams were scheduled, and it appeared only a few, if any, would be played.
"The Southeastern Conference joins all of the other major sporting entities in the nation in postponing all athletic events," the SEC said in a statement.
"The conference continues to believe this country must begin the healing process following the horrendous events of the past week and will evaluate all future schedules at an appropriate time."
A seventh I-A league, the Western Athletic Conference, also postponed its games. The other four I-A conferences — Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West and Sun Belt, have not yet officially postponed its games.
Notre Dame, an independent, called off its game at Purdue, a Big Ten school.
Among the games postponed were three marquee matchups in Florida — No. 13 Washington at No. 1 Miami, No. 8 Tennessee at No. 2 Florida and No. 10 Georgia Tech at No. 6 Florida State.
Saturday's schedule had featured 18 games involving 22 of the AP's Top 25 teams.
Earlier Thursday, three games involving Top 25 teams were postponed — Utah State at No. 11 Fresno State, Bowling Green at No. 18 South Carolina and No. 25 Louisville at Illinois.
It was an indication that schools disagreed with earlier conference decisions to play those games. Player reaction and travel concerns played a big part in the postponements.
"There was real anxiety as the week went on on the part of our football team about traveling by air," Bowling Green athletic director Paul Krebs said.
Before the Big Ten's change, seven of its teams had its games postponed — Illinois, Indiana, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin. Northwestern's game against Navy won't be made up.
Some games have been rescheduled and conferences will be working to try to reschedule other games.
On Wednesday, SEC commissioner Roy Kramer decided to go forward with the games.
"We just feel very strongly that this was the appropriate decision to make," Kramer said.
ACC commissioner John Swofford said, "I'm sure everybody's preference would be for life to be normal and therefore play the games that were scheduled. But life isn't normal. These are extremely extenuating circumstances, and consequently those circumstances have been very impactful."
The NCAA executive committee, which will donate $5 million to disaster relief funds, had recommended that schools hold a moment of silence or some form of public recognition at this weekend's events.
"The White House has conveyed to the NCAA that it is encouraging a return to normalcy across the country," NCAA executive committee chairman Robert Lawless said. "We want to assist in showing the resiliency of the American spirit."
Among those games rescheduled are Notre Dame-Purdue and Penn State-Virginia, both on Dec. 1.