It has been eight months since the United States saw the pandemic reach this country. College athletics ceased all operations until the 2020 college football season started back in September. COVID-19 has severely impacted the sport this season. This week alone we have seen 15 game cancellations. USA TODAY Sports released a study on the growing number of cases in counties where Power Five schools reside. The Big 12 Conference has one of the highest numbers.
Three Big 12 schools — Oklahoma State, Kansas and Iowa State — have seen the daily COVID-19 cases in their counties more than double from the previous week. And Payne County in Oklahoma, which the Cowboys call home, has seen a spike of 172% — more than four times the national average of 40%.
The Big 12 Conference has seen a much larger spike than the Power Five conferences and the United States have seen. The highest number being Lubbock County where the Texas Tech Red Raiders reside. However, that has actually been a drop for Lubbock. Austin is showing the lowest number of cases per 100,000 residents.
With the winter months approaching, we could see these numbers continue to grow and it could put a damper on winter and early spring sports. It is much the reason that we have seen so many postponements and cancellations across the US. Fortunately enough, even with the number of growing cases the Big 12 Conference hasn’t been impacted the way other conferences have up to the point. Still, it is a situation that will be monitored.
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