On March 12th, Roll Tide Wire was one of the first to report that both Alabama and TCU had reportedly begun talks on what might happen on September 5th. Alabama AD Greg Byrne made it clear that same day that the plan was (and maybe still is) to play USC. But on Friday, Nick Saban joined Charles Barkley and Ernie Johnson on the “The Steam Room” where he shared his take on college football season being played this fall, as well as his thoughts on the coronavirus, and who the Tide might face come September 5th.
“Let’s just take the scenario of what if they can’t play in California or they say they can’t play in California. Well, we play USC the first game. TCU plays Cal, for example, the first game. So, what if they can’t play in California, but we can play, aight? Well, we obviously can’t play a game, maybe we play TCU instead of Southern Cal because they can’t play a California school, as well. But is it a fair question to say just because California can’t play, none of the other players can participate and play? That’s a pretty tough debate. I would be for whatever players can participate to be able to participate, and it may not be completely fair.”
Now, this doesn’t mean this is a for sure thing, but it’s an ironic comparison considering these are the rumors that have been circulating for just over a week.
Saban went on to share during the podcast how important this season is:
“I’m hopeful. I’m hopeful for the players. There’s a lot of players on your team that are looking forward to this season so that maybe they can enhance their value and have an opportunity to play at the next level. There’s a lot of guys that would like to have a chance to win a championship, SEC championship, whatever, aight, and they’ve worked hard to try to do that, and if they can’t play a normal season, that’s the thing that would bother me the most.”
The same thing with the players and participants who missed all the spring sports, whether it was the golf team, the baseball team, the softball team, whatever. You hate it for the participants who worked so hard to have that opportunity and now it’s taken away from them through no fault of their own. That’s a situation that I hope we don’t have to endure in the fall, so I’m very hopeful that we’ll be able to play football in some capacity.”
Now, there’s plenty of time between now and the start of the college football season for these decisions to be made. Who knows, maybe Alabama will still play USC.
But that certainly doesn’t mean that the plan won’t change or that a plan “B” isn’t being discussed.
Especially given the coronavirus status in California and the fact that California governor Gavin Newson has shared how he didn’t expect full stadiums in California in August or September.
Even USC head coach Clay Helton spoke to the the Los Angeles Times about the situation:
“We’ve been talking about all different scenarios. About the opportunity of maybe starting on time. The opportunity where maybe it’s pushed back. The opportunity where maybe it’s more of an abbreviated conference schedule. All those discussions are being had.”
Only time will tell what will happen, and who Alabama could face on September 5th.
Roll Tide Wire will keep you up to date on the very latest on this story!
[lawrence-auto-related count=3]