SEC pushing forward with season, reports say, as Big Ten poised to postpone
The college football season sits in a precarious position, as its two biggest conferences are reportedly heading in different directions on whether or not fall sports should happen, according to various reports.
AL.com, ESPN’s Paul Finebaum and radio host Dan Patrick are among the outlets reporting that the Southeastern Conference is standing firm on its plans to play college football in the fall despite numerous published reports that the Big Ten intends to postpone fall football because of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak and hopes to play in the spring.
“I talked to an SEC source yesterday who said, ‘We’re still planning on playing. We have our schedule release coming up in a couple of days,’” Finebaum said Monday on ESPN’s Get Up TV show. “Remember, Friday night the SEC released the two additional conference games, so it just shows the incredible disconnect that we’ve talked about for three months, that is now mushroomed and has literally put everything on edge. As someone else told me early this morning, the college football season is not dead, it’s just on life support right now.”
Patrick said on the air Monday, citing sources: “The Big 10 and the Pac-12 will cancel their football seasons (Tuesday). The ACC and the Big 12 are on the fence. The SEC is trying to get a delay to get teams join them. The SEC is looking at exclusive TV contracts.”
Later in the afternoon, Sankey posted thoughts to Twitter arguing for a slow and steady approach, the same one the conference has taken through much of the ramping back up to prepare for the season.
“Best advice I’ve received since COVID-19: ‘Be patient. Take time when making decisions.’” Sankey wrote. “’This is all new & you’ll gain better information each day.’ @SEC has been deliberate at each step since March ... slowed return to practice ... delayed 1st game to respect start of fall semester. ... Developed testing protocols. ... We know concerns remain. We have never had a FB season in a COVID-19 environment. Can we play? I don’t know. We haven’t stopped trying. We support, educate and care for student-athletes every day, and will continue to do so ... every day.”
This came in the wake of outlets such as Sports Illustrated and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporting the news out of the Big Ten. Other reports, including ESPN and Yahoo Sports, said no presidential vote had taken place yet by Big Ten schools.
Other reports have the Pac-12 in line to join the Big Ten in postponing. Both leagues were the first to adopt conference-only schedules for 2020, weeks ahead of the SEC, ACC and Big 12.
As of noon Monday, the South Carolina football team had not changed any of its scheduled workouts, as some schools, including Wisconsin, had done over the weekend. The school had scaled back workouts after the SEC’s new conference-only schedule, which delayed the start of the season was put in place last week.
The Atlantic Coast Conference also appears to be pushing ahead with the season for the moment. Coaches at several ACC schools Monday spoke in support of a season.
“Sources have said the SEC and the ACC are the most aligned at this point,” AL.com’s John Talty posted to Twitter on Monday. “The whole thing could hinge on if B12 sides with B10/Pac-12 or SEC/ACC.”
Division II and III sports have already canceled fall championships, as has much of FCS. Old Dominion, a Conference USA team, also canceled Monday, becoming the 14th team to cancel a season. Twelve of those 14 come from the Mid-American Conference, which canceled its season Saturday.
The logistical challenges of spring football are numerous, from losing players to the NFL Draft process to players having to turn around and possibly play a season in the fall to questions of whether conditions will be any safer in terms of the virus and its effects.
Preseason camp for SEC programs is set to start Aug. 17, with the season opening Sept. 26. Gamecocks coach Will Muschamp said his team had less than 5% of its COVID-19 tests come back positive since workouts restarted in June, but any positive took groups of players out of practice for extended periods.
“It goes back to, number one, if you wear a mask, regardless if you’re less than six feet, with 15 consecutive minutes, it’s what they call contact tracing,” Muschamp said. “But if you’re wearing a mask, that isn’t in effect. So that’s why it’s very important to wear a mask, and we’re on the field in the walkthroughs, we’re in the weight room, emphasizing to our guys and our staff, you have to have you mask on.”
This story was originally published August 10, 2020 at 1:00 PM.
