USC, Clemson working together to preserve rivalry game even if COVID-19 alters season
The Big 10 and PAC 12 have already announced conference-only football seasons, and other Power 5 leagues are considering following suit.
If that ends up taking place in the ACC and SEC, it appears there could be an exception.
Clemson President Jim Clements and Clemson Deputy Director of Athletics Graham Neff said on a Zoom video call Wednesday afternoon that South Carolina and Clemson are committed to making sure that game takes place this fall.
“We’re all going to say yes to that one,” Clements said when asked if Clemson is pushing to make sure the rivalry game takes place.
“We all want to preserve it. We all want to play it. It’s important and we’re going to do our best to make sure that happens.”
Neff added that the leaders of the two schools are working together to do everything they can to make the game a reality. USC-Clemson has been played annually since 1909.
“I think a really important piece to Jim’s point to the work that we are doing, not only with the ACC where a lot of the scheduling updates may be born from but with USC,” Neff said. Athletics directors “Dan [Radakovich] and Ray Tanner are former colleagues. They’re really good friends, quite frankly, so they talk very frequently. ... That collaboration within the state is an important part of making that game in particular a reality.”
Decisions from the ACC and SEC regarding the fate of their schools’ college football season are expected as soon as next week.
Tanner, in a radio interview last week, acknowledged the Gamecocks’ desire to preserve the rivalry game against Clemson even if USC’s full schedule gets altered in some way.
“I would tell you that we would certainly try to do that,” Tanner said. “The other things are to be determined. But if we are in a position where we have the opportunity to play, we would definitely want to maintain our rivalry game.”
Clemson is currently scheduled to open the season Sept. 3 at Georgia Tech, while USC’s season opener is slated for Sept. 5 at home vs. Coastal Carolina.
The Power 5 leagues will have universal COVID-19 testing this fall, if a season takes place.
“The autonomy five conferences have been working since May to have common protocols so that we could line up and know people across the line of scrimmage are healthy,” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said on ESPN Tuesday night.
“My job is to make sure we’re prepared to play as scheduled and then the circumstances around the virus will determine if that can happen or not.”
This story was originally published July 22, 2020 at 5:31 PM.
