Keith Strudler: SEC On Hold

For everyone who firmly believes that the SEC is the leading college football conference in the country, you now have some hard data to support that position. That is, at least when it comes to Covid-19, where the SEC has set the bar high for spreading the virus with speed and intention. Don’t take my word for it – the proof is in the results, starting with the fact that two conference games have to be postponed this weekend because of team outbreaks. Florida/LSU, a marquee matchup of teams coming off crushing defeats, is on hold because over twenty Gator athletes have tested positive, bringing the number of available scholarship players available to under 53. A less appealing matchup between Vanderbilt and Missouri is also on hold because Vandy can’t find 53 with positive tests, quarantines, and opt-outs. And of course as you probably know, second ranked Alabama’s head coach Nick Saban will miss this weekend’s game against third ranked Georgia since he tested positive. While Saban has run practice from Zoom this week, he will not be allowed to virtually coach Saturday on Zoom or any other platform, for whatever reason.

Of course, only a few short days ago we expected to see a whole lot of people in Florida’s stadium the Swamp, to play LSU. That’s because right after their loss to Texas A&M in College Station, Gator head coach Dan Mullen said he didn’t want just some fans in the stadium next week, the ongoing practice in the SEC. He wanted all of them. Meaning 100,000 screaming at the top of their lungs after probably one too many pre-game cocktails. Fortunately, all of this will have to wait until the rescheduled December 12 game date, by which time it’s fair to suggest all of the state of Florida make have had Covid, Gator fan or not.

SEC leadership has become aware of their growing Covid problem, and has at least tried to stop the bleeding, fining universities up to a million dollars for repeated Covid rules violations, including most notably coaches not wearing masks on the sidelines, something they’re surprisingly bad at despite being on national TV. Unfortunately, the conference does not control how their member universities handle fans in their stadiums, including the density and proximity in what seem like overstuffed student sections. But as not one but two SEC games are sidelined this weekend, I’m sure everyone knows another scene like the recent Auburn/Georgia game is unwise at best. Whether they can make a bunch of football crazy undergrads distance and mask up in the heart of Dixie is another issue altogether.

At this point, it’s hard to know whether the SEC or any college football conference will be able to finish its entire season. And remember, two of the five power conferences haven’t even started yet. It’s also impossible to know if Florida’s outbreak serves as a cautionary tale or the beginning of the end. And perhaps more to the point, I’m not sure that even a series of outbreaks will bring an SEC season to close, but rather just keep pushing games back until they’re all done and a victor is chosen. Barring national or state intervention – and I do say that sarcastically – this train is going to get to the end one way or another. Which means that if you play football for an SEC school and you really, really don’t want to catch the virus, well, good luck.

I’m past suggesting that college football should be cancelled or delayed. And I’d be a hypocrite anyway given how I’ve spent the past several Saturdays in front of a television watching SEC ball. But I will say this. Now is perhaps the right time for everyone involved in SEC football to at least get on message. Meaning if you want to play football and make us fans believe you actually care about doing it safely, it’s probably a great time to clear out the stands and force masks for anyone that’s still there, tell your coaches to stop pretending it’s 2019, and start communicating a bit more proactively than the White House. If you want to play and for us to watch, start pretending that you care, and that you value the risk part as much as the reward. Start showing that player health is just as important as fiscal health, which I know is a concern.

And if you do that, maybe top players will continue to flock to your campuses. And you can affirm the belief that you lead the nation in more ways than one.

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