”When my information changes, I alter my conclusions. What do you do, sir?”

That’s the sophisticated way of saying: “When facts change, I change, and you, sir, are stupid if you don’t.”

The truth is, COVID-19’s new testing protocols for Big Ten football players dramatically improved in a stunningly short period. Northwestern’s Morton Schapiro, chair of the 13 other men and women on the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors, was convincing when he stated that the rapid daily testing, coupled with a 21-day quarantine for all positives (to check for myocarditis symptoms), brought him on board.

Imagine, this daily testing can detect the virus before it reaches the level of infection. Truly amazing!

Even as Big Ten campuses are going through various levels of outbreak, these mostly separated football players may be the safest in their age class.

That’s important to understand. Whether this expensive, special status is appropriate, well … that’s another story. We recognize that every campus has a dismal report.

Wisconsin’s Rebecca Blank is overseeing a two-week lockdown featuring fake gravestones on campus, and Michigan’s grad students are striking over unsafe conditions. There are quarantines at Purdue and Michigan State.

But generally speaking, these 100-plus athletes are taking mostly online classes and operating out of what amounts to a soft bubble.

Take a step backHowever, there are aspects of the Big Ten announcement that raise questions. And that was even before Saturday morning’s unveiling of every team’s schedule.

First, the announcement that the vote was unanimous. Maybe so, but that stretches the imagination when you hark back to the earlier negatives and the lukewarm acceptances by Michigan President Mark Schlissel and his brethren at Rutgers, Michigan State and Minnesota.

It sounds more like they were hauled by the hair by Ohio State and Nebraska.

But if collegial unanimity is best for all concerned, then yes, it was unanimous. Let us, by all means, avoid the uproar stemming from the previous 11-3 vote (did they really vote this time, or was it simply unanimous acclaim?).

Doubts arise because Commissioner Kevin Warren and the Council of 14 were devious after August 11. They tried to hide their division. Are we supposed to now believe they leapt up from their Zoom locations with high fives?

And by the way, with Ohio State leading the charge to return, was it a coincidence that Dr. James Borchers, co-chair of the Big Ten medical subcommittee, played alongside Buckeye QB turned announcer Kirk Herbstreit in the early 1990s?

More questions persistLet’s further analyze the explanation of NU’s Schapiro.

He said that neither revenue, nor lawsuits, nor public protests, nor a Saturday of others playing impacted his decision. He said, after days of uncertainty, he swung strictly on the updated protocols.

That’s fine. He responded appropriately to new facts. But considering how universities normally act, this happened at light speed.

You tell me:

— Would Schapiro and his cohorts have reconvened within a month if public pressure hadn’t cried out for a return to play?

— With the crush of other campus duties, would these 14 men and women, several of whom were strikingly new in their roles, have revisited sports so soon if millions of dollars weren’t at stake … lost millions that affect jobs, other sports and communities in general?

— Weren’t Big Ten leaders aware of a diminishing Big Ten brand as they watched all those college and NFL games on TV last weekend? All of us are influenced by how others act. We’re seeing that again as the Pac-12, Mountain West and Mid-America Conferences suddenly restudy the issue, with the Pac-12 reportedly trying to start their season a week after the Big Ten does, with kickoffs possibly taking place on Halloween.

Yes, speed was of the essence. And, for the Council of 14, it was crucial to get this matter settled and off their table. They have other more important business at hand.

Scheduling mattersNow comes the most difficult task of all: Playing eight games plus a playoff within nine weekends between Oct. 23 and Dec. 19.

Under COVID-19’s new 5-percent rule, if five players test positive on a 100-man roster, the game is canceled.

Not postponed. There is no way to make it up.

The previous Big Ten schedule had three byes in case of a Cardinals-Marlins type of shutdown when we saw what the virus did to those two Major League Baseball teams early on in their pandemic-abbreviated season. There are no options now.

It’s highly likely that some teams will play more games than others, which is another problem for the selection committee.

Other leagues are calling off games left and right. Texas Tech and LSU have registered a huge number of positives. Wisconsin has plenty of time to recover, but appears over the Big Ten limit right now.

It’s hard to imagine this Big Ten season going smoothly.

Loren Tate writes for The News-Gazette. He can be reached at ltate@news-gazette.com