Catholics vs. COVID: Another positive test for Notre Dame

Notre Dame couldn’t make it two weeks in a row with no positive COVID-19 tests on their football team.

After last week saw Notre Dame’s football team remarkably have zero positive COVID-19 tests just two weeks after having to postpone their game against Wake Forest because of an outbreak, the Irish test results are in for this last week and one came back positive.

That player was not named as players have not been named publicly all season long, but one other player was also noted as being in quarantine for being a close contact.

Again, no word on either of the players but it’s safe to say that neither will be available when No. 3 Notre Dame travels to take on Pitt this weekend.

2020 College Football Season. This Might Be Really, Really Awesome

If it happens, it’s going to be fun, it’s going to be weird, and it’s going to be awesome … if they actually play college football in 2020

If it happens, it’s going to be fun, it’s going to be weird, and it’s going to be awesome … if they actually play college football in 2020.


@PeteFiutak

Do you realize what we might be in for if this college football season gets played?

No, really. Are you able to fully grasp what it might mean if this thing set in motion by the Big Ten actually works?

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I’m a world-half-sucks sort of person who believes the beautiful music I’m hearing is coming from the piano about to fall on my head, but I’m allowing myself this one shining moment – I’m taking that phrase back from the dopiest lyrics of any song this side of “We Built This City” – to believe that maybe, potentially, possibly, we’re in for something incredible.

Of course I’m well aware that 1) sports don’t matter and 2) I’m about to get fired up about Christmas presents under the tree that might never be opened, but …

Enough non-stop news – at least for a bit.

Enough 30 for 30s that remind me that I had a lot of fun in the 1990s.

Enough Netflix. Enough HBO Max. Enough whatever the Peacock thing is going to be with all those shows on regular TV that I wouldn’t watch on a dare.

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We all need sports. Good sports, and not the I’m-watching-because-it’s-on sort of thing.

Start with what a baseball season should be – a perfectly-sized 60 games.

Once the whining stops about the food and hotels, the NBA season is going to be non-stop fantastic.

The PGA Championship will get August going, and the Indy 500 and tennis version of the US Open will end the month.

The golf US Open will be in September, The Masters will be played in November, and NFL training camps are right around the corner.

And college football is coming.

Again, understand what’s about to happen.

Maybe this will signal a shift in the business model, and maybe this is when the conferences ditch the NCAA and live life on their own for good – that’s all for another day.

If what the Big Ten is proposing is a go, we’re going to get ten games per team of Big Ten on Big Ten action with no FCS, no cupcakes, no waste.

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Bring that to the rest of the Power Five, too.

Once the other conferences kick it in, a ten-game all-SEC schedule? No mid-November games against Wofford, or UT Martin, or Alabama A&M, or Vanderbilt? Oh, wait … but to borrow the league’s phrase, it really will mean more.

The Big 12 already plays a full nine-game all-conference schedule, but the ACC keeping things in house with Notre Dame playing even more games within its friends-with-benefits structure? Absolutely.

Back in May, the Pac-12 threw around the idea of playing an 11-game all conference slate. Cool. Keep it out of the dark.

This all goes for the Group of Five conferences, too.

If you’re an investor, you want MAC football every Tuesday, and maybe Friday night Mountain West, and an all-American Athletic Conference schedule with shootout after shootout. It’s not an ideal situation for the other leagues – to be way understated – but for one year the on-field product would be a whole lot of fun.

The College Football Playoff types have already said it’s business as usual, but this time around the committee would have to work at it to come up with the true four best teams. It can’t just pick the four brand name Power Five champions, lather, rinse, and repeat – it’s probably going to have to dive into game after game along the way.

It’s not going to be for forever.

The 2020 college football season is almost certainly going to be a one-off to buy time to get to 2021. But if this works, and if the powers-that-be – if for their own self-interest, if nothing else – can really and truly make sure everyone is safe, this is about to be the most fun season ever, and …

Yeah, I know.

I’m well aware that we’re all probably going back to binging Cornhole tournaments again.

Aw crap. I looked up. It’s a Steinway.

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Will There Be A College Football Season In 2020? Where Is The Plan?

Will there be a college football season in 2020? How can it be safety played? What are the major issues?

Will there be a college football season in 2020? How can it be safety played? What are the major issues?


@PeteFiutak

College presidents, athletic directors, commissioners, and all those in charge of the very, very weird world of sports at major American universities have had almost four months to figure out how to get college football going in the age of a global pandemic.

And they’re on the verge of totally blowing it.

[jwplayer 4kGKn9MC]

I honestly thought that raw greed – combined with the economic survival of various athletic departments – would’ve been enough motivation to generate a more innovative plan than hoping the bad virus thingy would just go away.

But there’s still time. There’s not a lot, but there’s some.

Yes, there still might be a college football season like normal, and if that doesn’t happen, there’s still a shot at playing in some way. However, reality is starting rain down on ADs and conference commissioners like an anvil, and they’re borrowing an umbrella from Wile E. Coyote.

So to sum up every radio appearance I’ve been on over the last four months, and just about every other conversation I’ve had with the outside world, let’s do this …

Will there be a college football season?

Short answer, yes, but it won’t be anything like normal. There’s no way the schedule will go off without several hitches and changes along the way.

It might be a season of eight or so games, it might start a little later, and there will definitely be a twists and turns along the way. No matter what, the athletic directors will have to fight every instinct that made them major college athletic directors and be flexible on the fly.

But yes, I actually do think that at least some teams will be playing college football in the fall. I’ll get into this more at the end.

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But how? How can college football be safely played?

It’s the same thing I’ve been saying since mid-March. It can be done, but you’re not going to like the answer.

All players and coaches have to be tested, quarantined, and isolated from the rest of humankind for the entirety of the college football season.

That’s it. That’s the deal, and at this late stage of the game, it’s non-negotiable.

Start August 1, get practices up and rolling, and go on through the first week of December. It’s only four months, and it’s going to go by in a snap.

Also, remember, it’s not for forever. It’s just to get through this 2020 season and then everyone can reassess.

To buy into what has to be done, though, everyone has to get rid of the notion that the game of football can be changed to protect players from the virus.

This can’t be played without gatherings on the field, on the sidelines, and in the locker room. This can’t be played without collisions, and without sweat and spit flying all over the place. This can’t be tweaked to adapt to the normal guidelines that everyone else is supposed to adhere to.

No, the only way this flies is if all the players and coaches on the field are as clean as can be reasonably asked for from the tests currently available. That means no going out, no going to bars or parties, and no going out into the world.

It stinks. It all stinks. It’s all bad. But if you want to play college football this season, this is how it has to work. Any other way will guarantee a shutdown or a disruption of some sort, and …

Whatever. They’re not going to lock down and quarantine everyone. So now what?

There doesn’t appear to be any other practical plan in place.

Say it’s the night before Georgia vs. Alabama and three Crimson Tide players test positive. Yes, they get isolated, and yes, they’ll probably be okay, but Georgia isn’t going to want to play unless it knows that everyone on the other side tested negative and hasn’t come directly in contact with the affected players.

That’s going to be logistically tougher than it might seem.

Then, you have to trace back to Georgia State – who Alabama will have played the week before – and then back to USC from the opening weekend, and anyone those two teams came into contact with.

And then what happens to the Kent State game for Bama a week later, and the date at Ole Miss after that if everyone has to quarantine for 14 days?

Again, better to lock down everyone from the get-go then shut it all down in the middle of the season.

And I know exactly what’s coming next from an all-too-sizable portion of the public.

These are 18-to-22-year-olds in peak condition. If they get it, they’re almost certainly going to be fine, and …

Yeah, but there’s something different about college football in a that’s-someone’s-son sort of way.

Are you 1000% certain that every player who gets this won’t have any lingering, life-altering effects?

Are you 1000% certain that some NFL talent won’t see his lung capacity decrease by just enough to keep him from being at the elite level he needs to play at?

Are you 1000% certain that no player will die from COVID-19 if a season is played like normal?

Even if you believe this is all overblown and the media is pedaling fear porn, the reality is that when people get this, things shut down. You might not agree, and you might think it’s an overreaction, but that’s the deal.

Also, remember, there’s one gaping difference here between college football and the pro sports. The college football players don’t have any representation.

Pro athletes have a union, agents, and people getting paid a whole lot of money to look out for their best interests. If there’s a collectively bargained agreement, then the players have to trust that the people in charge are trying to keep them safe.

College football players don’t have that, so there’s a massive moral problem when unpaid – we can get into the whole compensation side another time – athletes are taking a health risk for the love of the game.

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How can there be college football if there aren’t students on campus as normal?

No students on campus is a positive.

If players aren’t locked down for the season in an athletic dorm, the fewer people on campus, the less chance of an outbreak.

If everyone is taking classes remotely, then so can college football players – they can just do it in a dorm on campus. In this case, this really might be the one time when college football players really will be like every other student.

There will be grad students at most places – mainly because that’s where the schools make their real money – and many colleges will still have lab classes that have to be done in person. It’s not different for college football, which …

Yeah, but wouldn’t playing college football when most of the students aren’t on campus be a really, really bad look?

I’ve never quite understood this argument.

Is it a bad look when college basketball teams on a run to the Final Four have almost a whole month of normal college life disrupted and changed? People would get past this in a hurry.

If you haven’t figured out that major college football players are different than normal students, and if you haven’t realized how insane the entire system is, then please don’t get all weird now about the hypocrisies across the board when it comes to major college athletics.

To be cynical, once the ball is kicked off, no one will really care about the optics. To be even more ugly – because presidents at most schools will have to justify not cutting tuition costs for online schooling – football might be forced to be played in an attempt to keep up morale.

What about just waiting until the spring?

Why is the spring going to be any better?

Forgetting that you lose all the NFL talents who won’t be able to leave the college scene fast enough, what’s going to change?

It’s still a long shot that a vaccine will be ready. More directly, if the powers-that-be haven’t figured out how to do this over the last four months, what light bulb is going to turn on in February?

With that said – and PLEASE keep your dopey political opinions in your pocket – the one game-changer could be the election. There might be a very, very different set of rules, guidelines and national protocols to follow in 2021 depending on who wins.

While we’re on this, it’ll be fascinating to see how college football is about get politicized.

Don’t underestimate what a gigantic PR win it would be for the current administration and elected officials in football-mad states if there’s football being played in late October and early November, and don’t dismiss what a colossal political disaster it will be if there isn’t.

So why haven’t athletic directors been sharper about coming up with a plan?

1) There’s no Roger Goodell-type at the top to centralize everything, because 2) the NCAA has zero interest in getting into the liability game and is punting to the conferences, which means 3) the conferences have to deal with various schools and various states with various governors with various sets of rules.

You want to try figuring out college football at the immediate moment in Texas, or Arizona, or in several of the SEC states?

Ten FBS conferences, ten conference commissioners – that doesn’t include Notre Dame – and they’re all looking to not make a mistake.

And then there’s harsh reality of the biggest killer for the schools …

No fans in the stands.

There’s a thought that if there’s not enough money being made off of playing football, then there’s no real point in moving heaven and earth to get a season going.

The NFL makes most of its money off of TV revenue, marketing and licensing. Most college athletic departments sink or swim depending on the football attendance.

That’s why coaches are only truly on a hot seat if there’s a dip in the ticket sales – or in donations. A coach can keep losing, but as long as the butts are in the seats, he’s got a shot at sticking around.

Of course there’s TV revenue for the colleges if football is played, but it’s not nearly as big a deal as it is for the NFL.

Okay, so make the call. What’s really going to happen?

To end on a positive note, I really do think there will be college football, and I really do want to believe it can be done responsibly.

Once it’s really on, and everyone realizes what’s at stake, they’ll lock things down on their own.

However, first get ready for the real gut-punch – few, if any, colleges will have undergraduate students back like normal.

What’s the worst possible idea on the planet right now? Take a smallish-to-midsized American town with limited hospital resources and bring in tens of thousands of people from all over the world to jam into confined spaces.

What do college kids do when they get away from home with a chance at freedom? One house party later, and uh oh.

Relating all of that to college football, conference commissioners can say there won’t be fall sports if the students aren’t back on campus, but not all schools are going have the same issues.

Indiana recently tested all the athletes on campus and didn’t get one positive result. Michigan retested everyone and had just the two positives from a few weeks before.

A college football season might have to be dealt with on a school-by-school, moment-by-moment basis, even within conferences.

Once we get to the 11th hour on the decision on whether it’s go or no-go on a launch – total guess here – watch out for one conference to go rogue and decide to keep things in-house with a league-only schedule – each conference will create its own set of protocols, rules and guidelines – and then everyone else will quickly follow, or not.

Bu it’ll happen. There’s going to be college football in some way.

It’s college. Everyone is cramming at the last moment for the exam.

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CFN Podcast: Will There Be A 2020 College Football Season? How Can This Happen?

Will there be a 2020 college football season? In this global pandemic, is it even possible, and what are the main barriers?

Will there be a 2020 college football season? In this global pandemic, is it even possible, and what are the barriers to putting some sort of a product on the field?


CFN Podcast: Will There Be A 2020 College Football Season?

Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

With the hopefully obvious caveat that there are FAR more important issues and concerns to figure out than whether or not a sport can be played …

Will there be a 2020 college football season?

It’s the only question in college athletics right now, because the life of athletic departments depends on whether or not there are football games and if there are fans in the stands.

How can this possibly happen? What are the big barriers unique to college football compared to other sports?

Before diving into the fun and silly stuff around a college football season in future podcasts, check out the latest CFN Podcast as I dive into the basic questions and issues about the one big thing that matters in the college football world.

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For any ideas on what you’d like to hear on future podcasts, hit me up @PeteFiutak.

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Daily Cavalcade: Can There Be A 2020 College Football Season? You Have 4 Months, Athletic Directors

Athletic directors have little time to waste if there’s going to be 2020 college football season. Everything is on the table.

[jwplayer Qpt9xkcT]


Athletic directors have little time to waste if there’s going to be 2020 college football season. Everything has to be on the table to make this happen.


Daily Cavalcade: Can There Be A 2020 College Football Season?

Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

Sorry if this take sucks, it’s not my fault …

1. I’m built for this quarantine and staying at home thing. I could do six months standing on my head.

2. If you’re angry at any aspect of this, remember, no one wants or needs a full 2020 college football season more than I do.

Really, there will be sports again. For now … just stay safe, and hope for ESPN to put out The Last Dance 30 or 30 on the Bulls as soon as humanly possible.

You have four months, college athletic directors.

Obviously, everything around the coronavirus nightmare is more important than whether or not a dumb college football game is played in late August, and of course the horrors and issues that so many are experiencing and dealing with are truly all that matter.

Our temporary reality is just getting started, but as we speak, college athletic directors are trying to do their jobs for their respective schools.

They’re trying to figure out whether or not there can, will, and should be a college football season in 2020, and they have just four months to get there.

It’s late March, and to have any sort of a working college football season to keep with the schedule as it’s currently created – supposedly kicking off on Saturday, August 29th – there has to be at least a full month for the machine to get going.

I know, I know, you’re thinking, “chill … that’s four FREAKING months away,” but considering the Tokyo Olympics have about as much chance of starting on July 24th as Jamal Murray has of reversing time and not hitting POST on his Instagram account, the sports world is already knee-deep into planning ahead for late-July and early August.

By August 1st – at the latest – college football training camps, practices, and facilities have to be up and going, especially considering there’s not going to be spring ball. However, it’s delusional for athletic directors to not at least prepare their budgets and plans just in case things don’t go off like normal this fall.

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So for now, let’s just ignore the potential that it all gets shut down for the 2020 season.

What do all the athletic directors have to be figuring out, and what possibilities are out there to give us college football again?

First things first, there is no football of any sort this year without …

1. Testing, testing, testing.

Let’s all hope and pray that the cure is coming tomorrow – and hopefully it’s some easy and awesome combination of crispy bacon and watching Blue Chips four times in a row – but even the most optimistic experts are saying it’ll be at least 12-to-18 months before one might be available, much less for mass distribution.

It’s out of the hands of the athletic directors, but until there’s a cure, by mid-July there has to be a way for every player and coach to be tested – and with quick results – to even think about starting up practices, much less getting the season going on time.

If just one player in a collision sport like this is infected, the results could be disastrous.

That’s just for the guys on the field. Athletic directors, you’re not going to like this – none of us will – but …

2. Plan on the likelihood of a season with no fans in the stands. 



If we’re not all completely and totally out of the woods by this summer, liability-wise, how can schools allow fans into the stadiums without testing every one of them before they enter?

Again, we’re almost certainly not going to have a vaccine for everyone by late August – if there is one – so even if the curve is flattened, thousands of people cramming together in stadiums all across the nation six months from now might still be a no-go.

That’s how a small-bump curve turns into Kilimanjaro in a hiccup.

And even if college football is going again and fans are allowed to attend, 1) attendance was already an issue before this, 2) have fun trying to get thousands of people to want to be around thousands of other people, and 3) good luck finding enough fans with any disposable income left.

Throw in the need for all the resources to gear up a major college football game – especially if our medical system is battling in any way after what’s predicted to come over the next few months – and the logistics of having fans show up are going to be tough.

Considering how financially disastrous it might be for most athletic departments to have no fans in the stands …

3. In case of emergency, maybe break or push off the deals for the non-conference games.

Let’s start exploring the nuclear options.

If needed, buy yourself some time, athletic directors.

Some schools cancelled non-conference games over the years because of hurricane and weather issues – same thing here.

The whole point of the cupcake games against the FCSers – and for most Power Five vs. Group of Five matchups – is to make the home team a lot of money off of the attendance in an easy win. If those fans aren’t there, the dynamic changes.

The TV revenue is still a part of the puzzle, but if schools are trying to figure out some way to have a 2020 season, limiting it to conference play gives everyone more room – like maybe starting the season in October with an eight-or-nine game slate.

And if it’s not okay in August, maybe it’ll be all clear for fans to show up again deeper into the fall.

Or, if the season really has to be pushed back …

4. If absolutely needed, blow off the bowl season outside of the New Year’s Six and College Football Playoff.

At absolute best, athletic departments break even going to bowls, and they usually lose money.

Again, it might be all about buying time and exploring every option.

If it’s not possible to have a season start up as normal in late August, what about starting several weeks later and extending the season through mid-to-late December?

It’s not ideal, and no one wants that – especially ESPN – but depending on what happens over the next few months, some season would be better than no season.

And if everything else fails and things get brutally ugly for the bottom line …

5. Have a plan in place for postponing most non-revenue sports this fall and for Spring 2021.

It would be devastating if it comes to this, and it would be an impossible sell for most athletic directors, but they have to be ready for everything.

Use the tired hope-for-the-best-prepare-for-the-worst cliché that’s on the motivational poster next to “Hang In There,” with the picture of a cat in a tree.

Most non-revenue sports cost pennies compared to the monster revenue-generators, and the Title IX aspect will come into play, but athletic departments will be crushed if they’re crossing their fingers and banking on a revenue stream that doesn’t come from packed football stadiums.

And now, to take this thing totally off the rails …

6. Ice Cube?

I’ve had an idea for the NBA from the moment the season hit the pause button.

Why can’t a multi-billion dollar company like the NBA – with its multi-billionaire owners – figure out how to test and then quarantine the 20 or so necessary parts of a team, keep them away from other humans for a few months – in the name of the league and the morale of a nation – and then televise their games in an empty and sanitized-as-possible gym?

Of course, the players wouldn’t go for it, the isolation aspect wouldn’t fly, and they’d all have to be tested every other day. There are still way too many logistical issues to work through to make it all happen on a major scale.

However, Ice Cube is trying to do all of it for his BIG3 League.

Okay, college athletic directors. Is there any way to apply any of this for college football?

The overall model has no shot – there are WAY too many players, coaches, and trainers who’d have to be quarantined – but if you really want a college football season, there are parts that might work.

It’s the dream of every coach to have their players on lockdown for a few months, but if there are quick and easy tests, that might not be as much of an issue.

The travel and hotel aspect would also be a concern, along with remembering that these guys are all college students, too. Taking all the classes on-line – unless you have to – isn’t the college experience, but it’s possible.

Athletic directors, put everything on the table.

Don’t get caught flat-footed like the NCAA did with its big basketball tournament, and don’t be like the NBA and pull players off the floor at the last minute.

As long as it’s safe, and as long as we’re in a good enough position overall that it’s okay, we all want a college football season. Now it’s up to you to come up with Plans A, B, C and Q, and contingency plan after contingency plan, to try making it happen.

You have four months.

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