With positive cases and hospitalizations of COVID-19 appearing in the last few weeks, college football has once again been put on alert for the fall.
Kansas State and Houston have shut down voluntary workouts already. The University of Arizona has shut down its campus with the spike of cases in Arizona. Texas has pulled back on its reopening process and many states in the northeast have mandated a travel quarantine for people coming in from areas with a rise in cases.
The academic year does have two semesters and eligibility is a year-by-year basis, which means a college football season can theoretically happen in the spring. It’s something Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley would be open for.
“It’s very doable,” he told Yahoo Sports. “This can happen. We’ve been a part of putting together models of what that would potentially look like. This season is going to be different, we might as well come to terms with that. If we do decide that the spring is the best option, if we get to that point, we shouldn’t be scared of it. It’s very doable.”
The spring season, according to Riley, would consist of a shorter schedule and some top NFL Draft prospects opting out of playing. Although a decision on this is a ways away, both Riley and Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby acknowledged to Yahoo Sports that the thought is becoming more real.
Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione said in early June that Oklahoma’s 2020 schedule remains intact. The schedule includes a road game at Army in New York.
The Sooners are scheduled to begin the 2020 season on Sept. 5 against Missouri State at home.
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