Alabama coach Nick Saban (right) and Athletic Director Greg Byrne test positive for coronavirus.
Alabama coach Nick Saban and Athletic Director Greg Byrne have tested positive for COVID-19, three days before the second-ranked Crimson Tide is set to face No. 3 Georgia in a clash of Southeastern Conference and national powers.
Both said their tests Wednesday morning came back positive, and Saban said in a statement that he “immediately left work and isolated at home.”
Saban, who monitored practice Wednesday from home, said he didn’t have any symptoms as of early evening. But the secondranked Crimson Tide will almost certainly be without their iconic 68-year-old coach on the sideline when they play Georgia.
Saban said he informed the team via a Zoom call at 2 p.m. Wednesday, about an hour after he learned of the test results, and that offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian will oversee game preparations within the football building while he works from home.
Saban said Sarkisian, a former head coach at Washington and USC, will still call the offensive plays.
Saban wasn’t sure how game day will go when it comes to communication with his staff, but is confident he can still lead practices and run meetings from home via Zoom calls. He communicated with a team manager when he saw a mistake in practice and wanted a play repeated.
He plans to go through his usual Thursday routine, which includes watching the offense and defense practice, work on twopoint plays, and will preside over meetings all from home.
Wednesday’s game
Coastal Carolina 30, Louisiana 27: Massimo Biscardi made a 40-yard field goal with 4 seconds left to give visiting Coastal Carolina a victory over No. 21 Louisiana-Lafayette on Wednesday night in a Sun Belt matchup of unbeaten teams.
Freshman Grayson McCall threw two touchdown passes and ran for a score to help the Chanticleers (4-0, 2-0) beat a ranked team for the first time.
The 4-0 start is their first in FBS play.
Notable
The Southeastern Conference postponed Saturday’s game between No. 10 Florida and defending national champion LSU a day
after the Gators had 19 players test positive for COVID-19.
The game was tentatively rescheduled for Dec. 12, the league’s built-in bye week before its title game. It’s the second SEC game bumped this week, following Missouri-Vanderbilt.
Conference USA has pushed its football championship game back two weeks to Dec. 18, giving the league additional time to make up games postponed because of the coronavirus.
Virginia says the NCAA’s Committee on Legislative Relief has granted Indiana transfer running back Ronnie Walker Jr. immediate eligibility.
Texas Athletic Director Chris Del Conte said Wednesday he expects players to “stand together as a unified group” to show appreciation for the school and fans during the playing of the school song “The Eyes of Texas” after games, but didn’t say what will happen if they refuse.
The song has become a thorny controversy within the program after several football players and other athletes said over the summer they no longer wanted to sing it because of its uncomfortable connections to racist elements of the school’s past, including performances by musicians in blackface decades ago.