Florida-FSU canceled after SEC scraps non-league games
UF athletics director Scott Stricklin lobbied to keep Florida State on the Gators’ 2020 schedule, but the SEC’s safety plan did not offer enough wiggle room to maintain the rivalry game played annually since 1958.
“We ran out of Saturdays,” Stricklin said.
At least there should be college football this fall despite the coronavirus pandemic.
The SEC now looks to carry implement its plan announced Thursday to play 10 games against only conference opponents, beginning Sept. 26 — three weeks later than the original Sept. 5 start date.
Stricklin said the delay to the season is based on the guidance of health officials as schools look to maintain safe campuses and keep athletes from contracting COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus that has claimed more than 150,000 American lives. No UF football players are dealing with positive COVID-19 test results or are in quarantine, Stricklin said.
Even moving the SEC title game from Dec. 19 — two weeks later but now following a Dec. 12 bye week — did not offer a window for the league in slip in another game without playing 11 straight weeks. Thursday’s decision came much to the chagrin of Stricklin and some fellow athletics directors whose schools have annual in-state rivalries fans, players and coaches circle on their calendars.
Thursday’s decision canceled the UF-FSU matchup contested every year since the Eisenhower Administration. Georgia and Georgia Tech, South Carolina and Clemson, and Kentucky and Louisville are other annual in-state rivalries pitting SEC and ACC schools.
“We’ve got a virus that has changed a lot of things. This is unfortunately one of them,” Stricklin said. “So really disappointed in that. Wish there was a way we could figure that out. But we’ll respect the decision we made as a league.”
The school presidents from each of the league’s 14 member schools met Thursday and approved a plan set forth by SEC ADs Wednesday.
Stricklin said he is hopeful a revised schedule for the 2020 season, including one in-season bye week, will be decided during the coming days.
“The league hasn’t given us a definitive timeline,” he said. “I’m hopeful we can get something fairly soon.”
Decisions on game attendance and game capacity are sure to require more time as the schools and the league office develop safety protocol and weigh the risks of the highly transmissible illness. Some top programs have speculated about the percentage of fans that could be allowed in a stadium while also maintaining social distancing, wearing face coverings and keeping their hands clean.
“Obviously we want to let people know as soon as possible,” Stricklin said. “We want to be able to inform them what their opportunities are going to be. That starts with we want to be able to have fans and we hope we’re in a position to do that. But you see this in the NFL, their season starts earlier than ours and there’s a lot of NFL teams that still haven’t made determinations of what the crowds are going to look like.
“I just think where we are with the virus that may take a little time to work through.”
The Gators were scheduled to play seven home games this season, including four matchups with SEC opponents — Kentucky on Sept. 12, South Carolina Oct. 3, LSU Oct. 10 and Missouri Nov. 14.
UF originally was scheduled to face Tennessee Sept. 26, but now will have to see how the schedule shakes out.
Stricklin said the one game on the calendar he expects not change is an Oct. 31 date in Jacksonville against Georgia. The longtime rivalry well could decide who represents the SEC East in the conference title game in Atlanta.
UF is the visiting team this season in the annual game, opening the door for the Gators to host five home games.
“Five home games I think is the most a school has ever had,” Stricklin said. “So that’ll be different for everybody this year with five SEC home games.”
Playing 10 games against teams from the nation’s top football conference is sure to be a gauntlet for everyone involved.
The Gators must add two opponents from the rugged SEC West to join defending national champion LSU, which serves as UF’s annual crossover game.
Coach Dan Mullen’s third Gators’ squad is expected to be his best yet, and a College Football Playoff semifinal contender. The path just got a lot tougher.
“Dan’s a competitor, as you guys know,” Stricklin said. “He’s never seemed to shy away from competition and playing 10 SEC games is going to be a challenge. If you’re a competitor, that’s probably not anything that worries you.
“I think he’ll be excited.” Meanwhile, Stricklin’s department could find itself in its own battle off the field.
FSU was just one of four nonconference games UF was scheduled to face, beginning with a season opening Sept. 5 visit from Eastern Washington University.
EWU was due to earn a $750,000 game guarantee, while South Alabama was due to make $1.2 million for a Sept. 19 trip to the Swamp. The game contract New Mexico State was supposed to pay the Aggies $1.525 million for the school’s Nov. 21 visit to Gainesville.
Stricklin said he has spoken to athletics directors from two of those schools, while another UF official has communicated with representatives all three programs.
“They have been very understanding and understand we’re hopeful that down the road we can reschedule a game with them at some point,” Stricklin said. “They’ve been good colleagues through this.”
Each school, however, depends heavily on game guarantees to bolster athletic budgets already reeling from the impact of the coronavirus shutdown.
Stricklin said insurance would not cover the cancellation of a game due to a pandemic. Lawyers from each side likely will decide whether the force majeure clause would apply and mitigate the Gators’ financial responsibility.
“Candidly, since those are outstanding contractual issues, that probably need to be resolved between legal counsel.” Stricklin said.
Stricklin had little doubt Thursday’s biggest loss was FSU falling off the 2020 schedule, despite the 50-year-old’s protests.
“I don’t think we would ever get a schedule if we sat back and let everybody lobby who they want,” Stricklin said.