Few fans in stands for college football opener

Central Arkansas rallies past Austin Peay

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — With masks, social distancing and mostly empty stands, the college football season kicked off COVID-19 style.

Austin Peay and Central Arkansas, two teams fresh from FCS playoff appearances, took the stage at Cramton Bowl Saturday night in the Guardian Kickoff Classic.

And college football was the star of the show.

“It’s the first game from the pandemic, and so it should mean that much more to everybody. Not just the players,” said Dave Dotson, whose family drove in from Texas to see son Simeon, a defensive back for Central Arkansas.

Lujuan Winningham caught a 10yard touchdown pass from Breylin Smith with 34 seconds left to lift Central Arkansas to a 24-17 victory.

Austin Peay took the lead on quarterback Jeremiah Oatsvall’s 1-yard TD run and Cole Deeds’ extra point with 1:40 left.

Oatsvall again moved the Governors across midfield in the final seconds with a 25-yard pass to Eugene Minter and then ran 19 yards on fourth and 10. His desperation heave on the final play was intercepted by Tamaurian Wilson near the goal line.

Only 2,000 tickets were distributed at the 22,000-seat stadium, and there appeared to be significantly fewer fans attending. A number of them were family members of players.

Masks were required coming into the gates, walking around the stadium and at the concession stands. Coaches and players also wore them on the sidelines.

Dave and Juliana Dotson decided to make the drive with teen sons Reuben and Ephraim — which turned into about 12 hours Friday because of Hurricane Laura-related detours — after seeing the precautions being taken at the game.

“It made us feel a little better about

‘ It’s the first game from the pandemic, and so it should mean that much more to everybody. Not just the players. ’ Dave Dotson Father of Simeon Dotson, defensive back for Central Arkansas

being here,” Juliana said. “It said there would be four seats in between each group and two rows, so there would be social distancing put in place.”

UAB professor of infectious diseases Michael Saag said the game would be “a good test case” for college football and other events. Both teams were tested Wednesday.

“Let’s pull back to the big picture: Everything we do in this epidemic is an experiment of sorts,” said Saag, who is also associate dean for global health. “Nobody really knows what’s going to happen at any event or with any type of exposure.

“We know the general principles and I think every human being on the planet can quote line and verse about mask-wearing distance. But each situation is different. I have been awed by the power of this virus and its ability to being transmitted from person to person.”

He cited the number of outbreaks already on campuses of colleges and universities.

Austin Peay didn’t disclose the number of players, coaches or staffers affected by COVID-19. But athletic director Gerald Harrison posted on Twitter that the team brought 70 players as usual.

The biggest name missing was wide receiver DeAngelo Wilson, a second-team AP FCS All-American last season.