LSU coach Ed Orgeron was extremely confident the other day when talking about whether or not college football season will be played this fall.
“My gut feeling is we’re going to play. Whether we start Sept 5 or a little after that; in-conference, out of conference, that doesn’t bother me,” Orgeron said on ESPN’s Marty and McGee. “I do know this: I believe we’re going to play. I’m almost certain we’re going to play.”
Consider Paul Finebaum someone who isn’t on the same page as Orgeron.
“I love his optimism but…and he is the embodiment of a head football coach, optimism is not going to get the season started on time,” Finebaum said on Monday. “The numbers are. We all know what’s going on. I don’t know what will change from today to next week. It’s unlikely the spikes are going to stop. Unfortunately they are facing a delay in the college football season.”
The next couple of weeks will be extremely important when it comes to the SEC deciding whether a season will take place or not. One option besides a regular season is to have a conference-only schedule like the Big Ten and Pac-12 have decided to do this fall.
ESPN’s Heather Dinich is also uncertain if football will happen.
“To be clear, the decision makers start with the coronavirus and then go to the SEC medical advisory panel,” Dinich said. “But one source told me they expect to make a decision next week, as in by July 31st as to whether or not the season can start on time. If it can’t, they might push it back to September 19th or to October 3rd. If you get into October to start the season, the SEC might say okay we’re going to a conference only schedule. But equally important, they could go conference only plus one to preserve those (cross conference rivalries). As much as Coach O wants to play, it’s really not quite in his hands at this point.”