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If football is a great teacher of life’s many lessons, then this week’s message is to wash your hands and avoid the holiday season.
Plus – and it should be obvious to anyone who’s watched Alabama 41, Mississippi State 0 – people with less to lose might be willing to take more risks. Hard but true.
The state of Mississippi has an outbreak of COVID-19, so his match with Auburn is called off for Saturday. The Bulldogs are in a mess this season in more ways than one, but they have eliminated LSU. Obviously, this is an introduction to our next bad news. Alabama’s game at Baton Rouge is also uncertain, after LSU players tested positive for the coronavirus upon leaving a week.
Coaches have been doing their best to manage the coronavirus and keep their teams away from their girlfriends and campus life, but LSU coach Ed Orgeron isn’t really to blame here. It turns out that planning a week-long shutdown for LSU starting on Halloween night was a bad decision for the SEC. If anyone has been to New Orleans or Baton Rouge for Halloween, then you know that young people cannot stay away from the fun.
But let’s not stack LSU. Auburn also halted football activities on Tuesday. This season has started so well for the SEC, relatively speaking, but now the second wave of COVID-19 appears to be here and the season is getting risky.
We’ll know more about LSU and Alabama after further testing this week, but it doesn’t look good for the Tigers anyway. They are without quarterback Myles Brennan for possibly the rest of the season (abdominal injury), and the last time we saw substitute TJ Finley he was benched against Auburn after throwing two interceptions. Alabama opened as a 22-point favorite against LSU, according to punters, but now the betting line is 28 points.
Alabama might as well start planning the game for Florida and quarterback Kyle Trask. (And I’m pretty sure that work will come back to Charlie Strong.)
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Elsewhere in the SEC, Texas A&M has cases of COVID-19 after his trip to South Carolina, and Arkansas coach Sam Pittman tested positive after the Razorbacks’ victory from behind over Tennessee. Scary stuff.
Outside of the SEC, the UAB’s Saturday home game against North Texas is now in question after UNT players tested positive. The Blazers’ game against UTEP, originally scheduled for Saturday, November 21, has been moved to 11 a.m. on Friday, November 20 in Midland, TX. For those unfamiliar with the geography of West Texas, Midland is located 300 miles east of El Paso. The border town has been hit hard by COVID-19.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin have missed two straight Big Ten games that can’t be caught. There are many other examples of disruption in college football due to, you know, trying to play games during a pandemic.
We always knew this was going to happen, so let’s not act in shock now and start pointing fingers. No, on the contrary, it is time to take a different perspective. This college football season feels more like an exhibition than something we can take seriously. For example, the best college football player (Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence) couldn’t make it to the Tigers’ biggest game of the season last weekend because he tested positive. Clemson then lost to Notre-Dame 47-40 in overtime.
Obviously, if we’re fair and impartial, Clemson shouldn’t be penalized by the college football playoff committee for this loss.
Is Notre Dame now the favorite to represent the ACC in the CFP? If this is the question you are asking yourself, you just don’t understand. Notre Dame is an independent, and the only reason they’re playing in the ACC this season is that it doesn’t really matter in the end.
That doesn’t make me love it any less. It actually makes me appreciate college football a bit more.
But nothing from this season should be overanalyzed or criticized, except perhaps the decision to have it at all. In Georgia, Kirby Smart played the season with a former reserve quarterback after his original starter retired. Naturally, Georgia lost big to Alabama and Florida, but still crushed Auburn.
This season is all about the money, and let’s not forget that. The teams are playing during a raging pandemic to avoid serious financial consequences for athletics departments, universities, television networks and everyone connected with college football.
Mississippi State Coach Mike Leach said something a little bizarre on Monday when asked about the SEC protocols in place to help prevent the spread of COVID -19. Leach is not happy with the league’s contact tracing rule that requires a person to be quarantined for 14 days if they come in contact with someone who tests positive.
“Our country has quickly become less free than before,” said Leach. “I’m not going to share my thoughts on this, but I definitely have some thoughts. I know a lot of people probably have the same thoughts as I do, but I’ll keep them to myself.
Is it possible to make a pirate hat with aluminum foil?
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I love Leach and his personality, and he’s a welcome addition to SEC West, but maybe he should consider the big picture. It might be tough for a guy making $ 5 million a year, and after Saturday’s win over Vanderbilt, he told “impatient” Mississippi State fans to maybe go find another team, but we can. always hope.
The big picture is this: this entire season is free. All. Every game. And nothing was taken away.
The NCAA knew this was coming. This is why the intercollegiate athletics governing body has frozen the eligibility of every college football player and given all schools the option to extend scholarships for an additional year.
The only thing freer than that, Mike, is your schedule this week.
*Editor’s Note: This column has been updated to reflect news in development.
Joseph Goodman is a columnist for the Alabama Media Group. He’s on Twitter @JoeGoodmanJr.
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