Editorial

College Football Officials Worry About The Season Finishing During The Coronavirus Pandemic

OPINION
Rice v LSU

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David Hookstead Sports And Entertainment Editor
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College football officials are worried about if it’s even possible to make it through a full season.

Under the guidelines for the upcoming football season, players who test positive for coronavirus must sit out for at least 10 days, and players who had contact with those individuals for 15 minutes without wearing a mask must quarantine for two weeks. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)

The moment I heard those guidelines, especially the second part, I said it’d be hard to finish the season. Now, my worries are spreading throughout the sport.

 

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An unnamed athletic director told Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger, “Are you telling me a contact is you and I lining up against each other and you block or tackle me and two days later I come down with the virus and you’re out? Then you’re not going to finish a season.”

An unnamed SEC coach told Dellenger that the contract tracing portion of the guidelines is “overwhelming.”

Players who have the virus isolating isn’t the issue. It’s the fact that anyone who had contact with them for 15 minutes can’t play for at least two weeks, and it doesn’t matter whether or not they test negative.

That’s a gigantic problem. In theory, a single positive test could knock out an entire locker room. If that happens, we’re not going to finish a season.

Hell, we might not even make it through a couple weeks of a season.

 

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If these guidelines don’t change at all ahead of the season starting, then I’d bet that we’re not going to finish the year.

It’ll all end once a few teams get completely knocked out because of contact tracing and too many players being in contact with a positive player.

I’m not saying that because I want it to happen. I’m saying it because it’s realistic.

We’ll see what happens, but I’m not holding my breath for a great outcome during the coronavirus pandemic.