Virus upheaval strains integrity of season
No. 3 Ohio State and No. 13 Wisconsin, the teams favored to play for the Big Ten championship, have already had a combined three games canceled because of COVID-19. A spate of postponements in the Southeastern Conference has created the distinct possibility that neither No. 1 Alabama nor No. 6 Florida will play all its games.
And the most important Atlantic Coast Conference game of the season was played without the Heisman Trophy favorite, Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence, because he was recovering from the coronavirus.
As virus disruptions mount and the end of college football’s regular season draws closer, the possibility grows that conference championships, major awards and even College Football Playoff participants will be determined in very large part by COVID-19.
“We’ve all accepted this is anything but a normal year,” ACC Commissioner John Swofford said.
Pittsburgh’s game at Georgia Tech this weekend on Nov. 12 became the 56th game involving Bowl Subdivision teams to be postponed or canceled since revised schedules were set in late August — including nine scheduled for this weekend and 10 for last.
The total number of FBS games played so far is 310, meaning about 15% of the schedule through 10 weeks has been impacted. The number has increased recently in part because all FBS conferences are now playing, with the Pac-12 and MidAmerican Conference returning last week, but it has also coincided with surging COVID-19 cases across the country.
In major college football, five postponed games have already been made up and another 24 have been rescheduled with the Dec. 19 end date little more than a month away. As days come off the calendar and makeup dates become tougher to find, conferences will have to put more emphasis on the games that matter most.
Pushing back the playoff could provide more opportunity to complete the regular season. The semifinals are set for Jan. 1 at the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl and the championship game for Jan. 11 in Miami Gardens, Florida. But the idea of rescheduling the CFP does not seem to have traction among the conference commissioners who will ultimately make that call.