With latest COVID news, the looming questions around South Carolina-Clemson
The coronavirus pandemic has created a series of expectations and plans around college sports, seemingly longterm, only to have them get upended.
When the sport stopped in mid-March, there was some imagined scenario where spring football practice could return. By the time those dates arrived, it was so far off the table, it wasn’t worth discussing.
This brings us to Thursday afternoon, when machinations started by the Big Ten left a large-scale question about the feasibility of South Carolina-Clemson at some point in the fall. Any plans or projections could easily be wiped away by the pandemic, and the whole season could move to the spring or not happen at all (though all efforts will likely be made to play some games).
Some of the key moves from a rapidly moving Thursday afternoon:
▪ The ACC delays Olympic sport competition until the start of September.
▪ The Big Ten announces it will have a conference-only football season.
▪ Stadium’s Brett McMurphy tweets the ACC is headed toward conference-only football, but amends that to say it’s not locked in yet.
▪ Junior colleges begin a push toward moving fall sports back to spring.
That potential ACC change is notable for the Palmetto State because if it were taken at its face, it would wipe out the South Carolina-Clemson game, which has happened annually since 1909.
Asked about potential discussion of working around that, a South Carolina spokesman said, “There has been no discussion on that at this point.”
There is always the possibility of some kind of waiver. In part because the pandemic has broadened the possibilities of everything involved in sports. Ensuring the rivalry game stays in place only means so much when the possibility of no football in the fall remains a very real one.
One thing that might also help is the fact the SEC and ACC are the two power five conferences that still play eight rather than nine games.
It was only eight years ago Columbia area state rep Nathan Ballentine proposed a law to require South Carolina and Clemson to face off every season. At the time, the specter of realignment had broken up several long-running historical rivalries. The bill was voted down.
On Thursday, Ballentine said he didn’t foresee a pandemic coming in 2012 and wanted to keep player safety at the forefront. But he did have one question.
“The thing that I don’t understand is, COVID doesn’t know what teams on the other side of the scrimmage,” Ballentine said. “If you’re gonna play conference games, why can’t you drive 100 miles to play an in-state rival that you’ve played for hundreds of years.
“If you’re going to Florida as a Gamecock or Clemson is going to Raleigh, I don’t see the harm in staying in-state.”
There had been one bill pushed through in 1951, allowing the teams to play despite their shared conference (the Southern Conference) not allowing Clemson to play league games because it was on probation.
What comes next is nothing if not uncertain. The SEC usually has been the last one to pull the trigger when it came to decisions around pandemic cancellations, while the Big Ten has usually been among the first to make its moves. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said he’d hoped to have a decision about football in late July or early August, and but then, other concerns could very well be at the forefront.
For now, this creates a big question within the borders of the Palmetto State. But to get even close to an answer, at least a few more large pieces have to fall into place.
This story was originally published July 9, 2020 at 6:47 PM.
