What if

[User Suspended]

What if a college football team has a player test positive for the “rona” the day before a game.  The player and everyone he came in contact with (the whole team) would need to test…the game would not happen.

Can someone with any logic tell me how playing college football this fall can actually happen? IF an attempt to play football this fall actually happens -it will be a hodgepodge of exhibition games- standings and rankings will be worthless as on some weekends some schools simply won’t be able to play. 

[HoosierUte]

It is going to be tricky. The good news is they have had time to try to come up with a plan, although that doesn’t mean anybody actually did… If the season started this weekend, would Clemson and LSU play games Saturday?  What is going to change in the next 3 months? Its 2020 so who knows.

 

[Tony (admin)]

We are surging with cases here in Utah. We are still in the first wave. We are 3 months from football.  It doesn’t look good.

[WelcomeToSackLakeCity]

Yeah, if all states were seeing a downward trend in cases from the first wave by now, then I think we would have had a good shot at the season starting on time. Now, with several teams already seeing plenty of players testing positive, I don’t know how teams can consistently practice over the summer. I’m thinking that the NCAA will end up canceling the season and give all student-athletes another year of eligibility, even if there are a few “exhibition” games this fall.

[Hellhound152]

Yeah pretty much what it is going to look like.

[Charlie]

If we are going to quarantine a football team if someone test positive on the team, the season will not be workable. If you allow other players to continue if they test negative, the season is much more possible. If you allow players that test positive but are asymptomatic to continue, disruptions may decrease but create other risks. Oddly, college athletes appear to have few significant risks related to covid-19 infection but could pose risks to others that interact with them like coaches and trainers. We ask a lot of them to interrupt their lives for the benefit for others assuming they want to risk infection and play football. We also cannot assume this next season is the only one that will contain risks related to this flu. We cannot assume a vaccine will arrive and will make a difference.

To make a season work well, I think, they would only pull athletes that test positive. If one player does test positive the rest of the team continues but could also be tested meaning no quarantine simply for having contact with a positive person. Positive tested athletes return with two negative tests with testing no more often that once a day.

It would then fall to each athlete to stay as safe as possible. High risk staff likely will not have contact with the team. Likely, there will be many players miss one or two games. Some schools will be luckier or better managed than others. A deep roster of game ready players can be a great advantage. There may be weeks that some teams are very poorly prepared but I can see a unique season taking place. As for fans, each should make a personal decision as to how much risk they can accept in a partially filled stadium. This is one more thing that sucks related to getting thrown out of the garden of Eden, which was perfect.