Clemson, Ohio State both dealing with COVID issues

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State football is undergoing a final round of COVID-19 testing on Thursday morning before the Buckeyes leave their football facility around 1:30 p.m. to head to the airport for their flight to New Orleans for Friday night’s Sugar Bowl. Clemson is already in New Orleans and done testing.

The virus has affected teams unevenly this season, and conferences have adopted different standards. It seems some of how a virus affects a team is based on diligence, and some of it is luck. The virus is uncertain, and the rules for fighting it have varied.

The greatest known COVID issue for this College Football Playoff semifinal between No. 2 Clemson and No. 3 Ohio State is the absence of the Tigers’ offensive coordinator Tony Elliott, who typically sits in the coaches box and calls plays. Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said in a news conference Thursday morning that the only other absences for the Tigers are two players who didn’t make the trip, one of them a walkon, neither of them major absences or likely COVID-related from the way Swinney spoke.

Swinney could speak with confidence, because his team is set. Ohio State coach Ryan Day was still waiting for a last round of testing, because that’s what the Big Ten requires the morning before a game. Asked if that was a competitive disadvantage, it was clear from his tone that Day wasn’t thrilled by the fact that the requirements for the teams aren’t the same. The College Football Playoff decided to let conference COVID testing rules still govern these games.

“I think that’s a unique situation, that we don’t have the same protocols going into the game,” Day said. “I’m not going to spend time thinking about that. I’m tired of that. As long as the guys are healthy playing in the game, that’s what matters.

“At the end of the day, what’s the goal? The goal is to have a clean field, and so we will follow the protocol that’s been set forth.”

In the sports world, when teams aren’t playing in a bubble, that has been the constant balance. Health and safety should be the priority, but competitive balance is the reality. Asked if the Buckeyes would be at full strength, Day said, “Full strength is a floating target right now” as he was careful as always when discussing the potential availability of any player. Ohio State’s official availability report won’t be released until. 6 p.m. Friday, two hours before kickoff. For a team that has seen starters like Chris Olave, Baron Browning, Tuf Borland, Josh Myers, Thayer Munford and Nicholas PetitFrere miss games at various times this season, that report is always a big deal. Day indicated that players who missed the Northwestern game, including Olave and Browning, have been working their way back, and Olave’s important presence for Friday has been subtly confirmed by Ohio State along the way.

So the Buckeyes, who did see Day and several assistant coaches miss games during this season because of COVID, seem to be in good shape.

Clemson is preparing without Elliott, knowing he will be missed, though it’s something that Swinney said he had planned for all season.

“We’ve never had a season where a virus can just take somebody out in a moment’s notice. So we’ve all had to prepare for that,” Swinney said.