The ACC will delay the start of competition for all fall sports until at least Sept. 1

[Techster]

I don't think there is very much this year that hasn't sucked all around. There are a lot of things that have happened to people medically and economically that are much worse than missing a year of eligibility for college athletics.

I think we all get that this thing has sucked for everyone, and there are bigger things in life than college football.

My point was you (or at least I do) feel for these SAs because they spend hours working towards something that is finite, and a good chunk may be taken away from them.

No need to make this a bigger referendum than trying to understand the human component of all this...especially since it's the SAs that will be the ones sacrificing their health and time entertaining us.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

There is the huddle, the line of scrimmage where they are breathing heavily in each other's faces all day long. I'm not against playing, but let's use arguments that make sense.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

Regardless of how you may feel about playing/not playing, one thing that really bothers me is knowing the SAs have a finite window to play college football. I'm on the conservative side when it comes to the safety and welfare of anyone, but the one thing that pulls me to say let them play is knowing the impact on the SA's college career. If the season gets cancelled, a quarter of an SA's college career is gone and it will all be beyond their control. Imagine being a senior who spent hundreds if not thousands of hours preparing for your last year, and it doesn't happen. We've got guys like Jalen Camp and Jahaziel Lee who were injured last season and worked their way back so they can have one last run to play for GT and be with their teammates...but they might not even get that chance.

Very few SAs get the chance to play at the next level, and college will be their last opportunity. To have that taken away or cut short because of something beyond their control just sucks all around.

Yep. Think about Antonneous Clayton. Formerly a top 30 nationally 5-star guy. Had a few injuries, lost a year to transfer. Now is his final chance. He's going to graduate - do we really expect people like him will want to start a graduate degree just to get another year of football? And if we're thinking of shutting down football because of the current conditions, I don't see it being materially different next year this time unless a highly effective vaccine is out by next spring. Could happen...but its a crappy situation for them all - especially the older guys.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

The universities can work with their conference and work with each other. It doesn't take a dictator to make decisions for them.

We don't know what the universities and/or conferences have been doing. The public is making assumptions that they haven't consulted medical experts, haven't consulted each other, and have no clue what they are doing.

Except they aren't making decisions. They are merely kicking the can down the road and trying to avoid being the first/last to make a decision. They don't need a dictator, but leadership would be nice.

 

[smokey_wasp]

Okay, a couple hours then. 15 minutes is the time it takes to get an infectious dose when in close contact with someone.

(Meant as a reply to @bwelbo . When I quote a quote, nothing shows up. lol)

 

[Deleted member 2897]

Okay, a couple hours then. 15 minutes is the time it takes to get an infectious dose when in close contact with someone.

(Meant as a reply to @bwelbo . When I quote a quote, nothing shows up. lol)

I was just being silly. It was funny that you complained about me doing something, and did the exact same thing in your post.. They don’t breathe on each other for hours either. But I get your larger point.

 

[smokey_wasp]

Yep. Think about Antonneous Clayton. Formerly a top 30 nationally 5-star guy. Had a few injuries, lost a year to transfer. Now is his final chance. He's going to graduate - do we really expect people like him will want to start a graduate degree just to get another year of football? And if we're thinking of shutting down football because of the current conditions, I don't see it being materially different next year this time unless a highly effective vaccine is out by next spring. Could happen...but its a crappy situation for them all - especially the older guys.

If it means the only shot at the NFL, sure, maybe he starts that grad degree. Or maybe they loosen the rules to allow somebody like him to go into a certificate program or something. There are ways of doing it, though, yes, none of it is ideal. But again, wasting his eligibility on some partial season with games that keep getting canceled due to positive cases is also a terrible situation for someone like him.

I am bullish on spring from a safety standpoint. We will probably have a vaccine, but even if we don't, we should have a handle on it by then. It's hard to imagine we wouldn't. And if we don't, we have way bigger problems than football.

 

[smokey_wasp]

I was just being silly. It was funny that you complained about me doing something, and did the exact same thing in your post.. They don’t breathe on each other for hours either. But I get your larger point.

Hehe yeah I hear ya. It was hyperbole.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

You can't credibly argue football is just making a few tackles, c'mon. There is the huddle, the line of scrimmage where they are breathing heavily in each other's faces all day long, not to mention other team activities. I'm not against playing, but let's use arguments that make sense. To me, a lot of this boils down to just how effective they can be at putting these kids in a bubble. Because the thing is, a single positive case is going to shut a team down for 14 days. It's going to be hard to get a season in that way.

I don’t think you shut the football team down if someone tests positive. Schools around the country have had people test positive and they don’t shut the team down. If several people test positive in a short period of time, then you may have to. But if everybody else is testing negative, they would be no reason to shut the team down.

 

[RonJohn]

Except they aren't making decisions. They are merely kicking the can down the road and trying to avoid being the first/last to make a decision. They don't need a dictator, but leadership would be nice.

I think delaying is the smartest thing to do. Can anyone declare definitively right now that they are definitely going to play no matter what happens? I haven't seen that. The SEC commissioner's statement is that he doesn't know if they will be able to play or not, but at the moment they are moving forward as if expecting to play. Should it be declared, at this moment, that they will not play? I don't think so. Why should they go ahead and cancel when there is still a possibility of playing?

I would compare it to a space ship launch. You set a date and time that works for the launch and work towards meeting that date and time. If a pop up thunderstorm appears at the launch window, then you have to delay the launch until another date and time. They don't know two weeks ahead of time if there will be a pop up thunderstorm that interferes with the specified launch window.

The same is true for football. They are pushing back the start dates to see if they can work it out. If they realize in early September that a mid September start date can't work, then they will either delay into October or the spring. That isn't a guarantee that football will be played in October, and not even a guarantee that football will be played in the spring. It is however, an attempt to have a season. A central leader would not be in any better situation to make definitive decisions. Central leadership could announce dates, but they wouldn't be any more definitive than the statements being made now. How would central leadership handle California? I believe the teams are limited to 50 people in the facilities including players, coaches, and staff. They can't even hold full team meetings or hold full team workouts. Should a central leadership group enforce those restrictions on GT?

Nobody knows at this point when or if a fall football season will start. If there was a central leader for NCAA football, they would not know when or if a fall football season would start. People should realize that and not expect declarative answers at this point. (The only declarative answer that would be final at this point would be to cancel the fall season.)

 

[smokey_wasp]

I don’t think you shut the football team down if someone tests positive. Schools around the country have had people test positive and they don’t shut the team down. If several people test positive in a short period of time, then you may have to. But if everybody else is testing negative, they would be no reason to shut the team down.

I would have to check on it, but I am pretty sure a couple of teams have had to suspend activities already. Louisville was one, I think? At the very least, per the CDC, anyone who had close contact with an infected individual must quarantine for 14 days, so it has the potential to wreak havoc on rosters at the very least.

I know at my job, if I have contact with anyone who is positive, I am not allowed to come back for 2 weeks.

 

[dmel25]

I love Colin Cowherd he is hilarious and I like what he has to say on a lot of stuff sports related. For example, how Matt Ryan isn't an Elite QB, because he is isn't, he is a stat padder.

 

[RamblinRed]

I actually think the SEC has been pretty smart about this. They are simply playing a waiting game.
Now conferences are even smarter if they play a waiting game and work on their back-up plans while waiting. The worst case scenario is playing the waiting game, eventually having to cancel the fall and not having any plans on how to move forward.

SEC is waiting until the end of Sept because they want to see what happens with infections. if students come back to campus and then the 1st-2nd week of September the cases increase significantly then they likely end up cancelling the season, but they are going to wait until the last minute to do it.

I also like this idea from James Franklin if the B10 ultimately cancels the fall season that the B10 has B10 weekends in Dome stadiums in the Winter/Spring.

James Franklin Suggests Holding 'Big Ten Weekends' in Domes if Football Shifts to Spring

Penn State coach James Franklin wants the Big Ten to seeks solutions "rather than just calling it quits."

www.si.com

FWIW, the reason centralized leadership would help right now is it allows everyone to get on the same page easier and makes it more likely to have a positive outcome. For example - each conference has its own safety protocols - the various student groups are advocating for consistent safety protocols. That's much easier to create if you have a national leadership that can make sure all the conferences agree.

I'm still holding out hope until the ACC cancels and I don't think that is happening this week.
Saturday morning I would have put the odds of the season starting at 80%, i'd put it at 65% right now. My odds for the season finishing was around 10%, haven't really changed my thoughts on that.

At this point most schools haven't really started fall practices. ACC schools have but SEC doesn't start until Aug 17th, PAC12 doesn't start until at least Aug 17th and the B10 has not been allowed to advance in their fall training. so we still have a long ways to go.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

I actually think the SEC has been pretty smart about this. They are simply playing a waiting game.
Now conferences are even smarter if they play a waiting game and work on their back-up plans while waiting. The worst case scenario is playing the waiting game, eventually having to cancel the fall and not having any plans on how to move forward.

SEC is waiting until the end of Sept because they want to see what happens with infections. if students come back to campus and then the 1st-2nd week of September the cases increase significantly then they likely end up cancelling the season, but they are going to wait until the last minute to do it.

I also like this idea from James Franklin if the B10 ultimately cancels the fall season that the B10 has B10 weekends in Dome stadiums in the Winter/Spring.

James Franklin Suggests Holding 'Big Ten Weekends' in Domes if Football Shifts to Spring

Penn State coach James Franklin wants the Big Ten to seeks solutions "rather than just calling it quits."

www.si.com

FWIW, the reason centralized leadership would help right now is it allows everyone to get on the same page easier and makes it more likely to have a positive outcome. For example - each conference has its own safety protocols - the various student groups are advocating for consistent safety protocols. That's much easier to create if you have a national leadership that can make sure all the conferences agree.

I'm still holding out hope until the ACC cancels and I don't think that is happening this week.
Saturday morning I would have put the odds of the season starting at 80%, i'd put it at 65% right now. My odds for the season finishing was around 10%, haven't really changed my thoughts on that.

More proof this isn’t about football if that’s what they’re thinking. If they’re waiting to see how infections in the General student population go, and they have worries about complications like heart conditions, then they should cancel college.

 

[SOWEGA Jacket]

If this season is cancelled then next year will also be cancelled because nothing will really change. Vaccines aren’t fool proof and a lot of the population won’t get the vaccine even when availabl. Think about the flu. We have the vaccine yet every year millions get the flu and thousands die. it will be the same with Covid. This precedent being set is scary. Nothing will be different in a year.

 

[smokey_wasp]

If this season is cancelled then next year will also be cancelled because nothing will really change. Vaccines aren’t fool proof and a lot of the population won’t get the vaccine even when availabl. Think about the flu. We have the vaccine yet every year millions get the flu and thousands die. it will be the same with Covid. This precedent being set is scary. Nothing will be different in a year.

But the world still turns with the flu. You are correct that we probably will never eradicate covid. The goal is to actually make it more like the flu. Life could go back to normal if it is killing thousands, not hundreds of thousands.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

But the world still turns with the flu. You are correct that we probably will never eradicate covid. The goal is to actually make it more like the flu. Life could go back to normal if it is killing thousands, not hundreds of thousands.

So we’re canceling college football because of how deadly a virus is to the elderly. Seems about right for life these days. We can’t have nice things.

 

[ncjacket79]

I actually think the SEC has been pretty smart about this. They are simply playing a waiting game.
Now conferences are even smarter if they play a waiting game and work on their back-up plans while waiting. The worst case scenario is playing the waiting game, eventually having to cancel the fall and not having any plans on how to move forward.

SEC is waiting until the end of Sept because they want to see what happens with infections. if students come back to campus and then the 1st-2nd week of September the cases increase significantly then they likely end up cancelling the season, but they are going to wait until the last minute to do it.

I also like this idea from James Franklin if the B10 ultimately cancels the fall season that the B10 has B10 weekends in Dome stadiums in the Winter/Spring.

James Franklin Suggests Holding 'Big Ten Weekends' in Domes if Football Shifts to Spring

Penn State coach James Franklin wants the Big Ten to seeks solutions "rather than just calling it quits."

www.si.com

FWIW, the reason centralized leadership would help right now is it allows everyone to get on the same page easier and makes it more likely to have a positive outcome. For example - each conference has its own safety protocols - the various student groups are advocating for consistent safety protocols. That's much easier to create if you have a national leadership that can make sure all the conferences agree.

I'm still holding out hope until the ACC cancels and I don't think that is happening this week.
Saturday morning I would have put the odds of the season starting at 80%, i'd put it at 65% right now. My odds for the season finishing was around 10%, haven't really changed my thoughts on that.

At this point most schools haven't really started fall practices. ACC schools have but SEC doesn't start until Aug 17th, PAC12 doesn't start until at least Aug 17th and the B10 has not been allowed to advance in their fall training. so we still have a long ways to go.

I get what you’re saying but the reality is we are really talking about a P5 super commissioner because they are the only ones who can afford the protocols that would have to be dealt with. I’m becoming more and more convinced that however this turns out it means P5 will break away, at least for football and the NCAA and smaller conferences and divisions will just have to deal with it.

 

[ncjacket79]

If this season is cancelled then next year will also be cancelled because nothing will really change. Vaccines aren’t fool proof and a lot of the population won’t get the vaccine even when availabl. Think about the flu. We have the vaccine yet every year millions get the flu and thousands die. it will be the same with Covid. This precedent being set is scary. Nothing will be different in a year.

What will be different is we learn more about long term consequences and better treatments. We are actually in a much better place now than we were in March in terms of dealing with it.

 

[WreckinGT]

If this season is cancelled then next year will also be cancelled because nothing will really change. Vaccines aren’t fool proof and a lot of the population won’t get the vaccine even when availabl. Think about the flu. We have the vaccine yet every year millions get the flu and thousands die. it will be the same with Covid. This precedent being set is scary. Nothing will be different in a year.

So potential effective vaccines, treatment improvements, more research on long term effects, continued social distancing, etc. will have no impact on anything? Talk about doom and gloom.