It feels like a month’s worth of news all seemed to surface in one day.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, no one could really predict how college football in the fall would shake out. However, there’s now minimal time left to make a final decision on how to move forward.
It appeared the Power Five conferences came to an agreement to shorten the season and focus on conference-only games, but as of Monday that’s far from the case.
The Big Ten appears to be leaning towards cancelling the season altogether. This sparked a movement on Twitter led by Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence where players, coaches, and athletic directors started using their voices to plead for an opportunity to play.
While many fear the Big Ten’s decision could trickle down onto the other major conferences, that doesn’t appear to be the case. The Big 12, ACC and SEC are vocal and determined to find a safe way to play this fall.
They’ve done their research and feel it’s a safer environment for the players to be on campus rather than departing to unstable and unstructured environments. For Texas specifically, they feel confident that this will be worked out.
High-ranking Texas source tells me school administrators want to play this season. UT has spent big money on testing protocols, accepted smaller stadium capacity. They feel good about it.
— Brian Davis (@BDavisAAS) August 10, 2020
They certainly have the statistics to prove their case. When players initially reported to campus after training in their hometowns, the positive cases were significant. Fast forward to a month later, there is not a single positive case nor any players quarantining out of all five sports teams that are currently on campus competing.
The strict health and safety precautions that Texas is following appear to be working. On top of that, the Longhorns signed a mid six-figure deal with an Austin start-up company to handle bi-weekly COVID-19 testing to prevent any outbreaks.
Players and coaches across the college football landscape are taking every necessary step for the opportunity to play this fall, but only time will tell.