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College football is splitting into factions.
On one side, the Big Ten and Pac-12 have canceled the fall 2020 sports season. On the other, the SEC, ACC and Big 12 are all moving toward the start of a football season this fall. The latter two voted Tuesday to continue with preparations for the season, and the former, which proactively delayed the start of the season until Sep. 26 to allow for increased flexibility, is content to wait out the next month and see how the situation changes, according to a report from Andy Staples of The Athletic.
Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork told Staples that delaying the season bought the league time, and the SEC advisory committee hasn’t given administrators new information that would indicate the 10-game conference schedule is untenable.
“We announced our football opponents on Friday, and all of the sudden the conversation changed over the weekend,” Bjork said. “But we’ve been presented no new data that says that we need to change our course right now. We bought ourselves time for a reason. We delayed the start of practice for a reason. We’ve got the right protocols. We have our testing protocols outline from last Thursday. We have a pathway. And we’re not to the finish line yet. But we can see it and we just need more patience. That’s my perspective. I believe that’s my colleagues’ perspective, and that’s how we’re pushing forward right now.”
South Carolina athletic director Ray Tanner said that other conferences choosing to postpone their seasons doesn’t directly affect how the SEC decides to proceed.
“I know we would love all the A5s to be playing. Obviously, the last two days it has been going in that direction. They hit a little pause button yesterday. That’s a decision they felt they needed to make, and now they are going to probably look toward the spring. I think spring is a challenge personally. It’s not impossible, but I think it’s very difficult to go in that direction. That’s just something they are looking at. We are approaching it from a different standpoint at this time. It could be something that we address, but it’s not where we are looking right now.”
One potential reason why the SEC appears to be stubborn when it comes to planning for the season to happen on time is political pressure. Unlike in a conference such as the Pac-12, university presidents and board members must contend with state legislators who want to see a season happen. On Tuesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis gave a press conference at Florida State alongside President John Thrasher and multiple players in support of playing a season this fall.
Such pressure has led to SEC administrators waiting to make any consequential decisions when it comes to the 2020 season.
The mantra within the SEC since the start of the pandemic has been that the league would wait as long as possible to make drastic decisions. Tuesday reinforced that. “We have used the same playbook the whole time,” Bjork said. “That is, let’s be patient. Let’s continue to gather information. If there are new data points that need to be entered into the equation, then we do that. We’ve got a medical advisory task force that that meets very frequently. And if they present new information to us that causes us to change or pivot or pause, then we listen to that.”
There’s also the question of what happens if, for one reason or another, the Big 12 and ACC decide to split from the SEC and join the other leagues in postponing the season. Speaking on the Dan Patrick Show Tuesday, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said that while the league could play alone, it probably wouldn’t be the best decision.
“I don’t think that’s the right direction, really,” Sankey told Patrick. “Could we? Certainly. There’s a difference between ‘Can you do something’ and ‘Should you do something’ in life. And so we’re actually set up with our schedule, with our own health protocols. We could, if if that was the circumstance, operate on our own. I’m not sure that’s the wisest direction. But, you know, a lot of interesting things have happened since March in college sports.”
One thing that could potentially put a damper on any plans the SEC has this fall are new reports showing a link between COVID-19 and a rare heart condition called myocarditis which, left untreated, can be fatal. People can develop myocarditis as a result of viral infections such as the flu or common cold, and fear over the long term effects of the condition were cited by both the Big Ten and Pac-12 in their decisions to cancel the fall season. It has been reported that at least five Big Ten players have been found to have myocarditis, as well as players in other conferences.
Bjork said this is why players will undergo a cardiac evaluation as part of the safety protocol, similar to the one they undergo when they first arrive on campus.
“Anytime a student-athlete arrives on campus, we we do a cardiac workup,” Bjork said. “And then, in order to return to any voluntary activity for any student-athlete — not just football, any student-athlete — they have to have the same cardiac workup. They’ve obviously got the COVID tests and then any positive cases, they have to have the same cardiac workup before they could return. So we’re taking every precaution that is a best practice at this point.”
It’s still unclear if given mass cancellations, the SEC will change its plans regarding the fall 2020 season. But for now, it’s clear the league believes its efforts to delay the season and create substantive safety protocols are enough to continue moving toward a fall season.
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