Cal forced to cancel opener
Cal’s football season has stopped before it ever actually started.
The Bears’ scheduled opener Saturday night against Washington was canceled Thursday, a day after a Cal player tested positive for the coronavirus and a “significant” number of his teammates were connected in contact tracing.
“Obviously, this is a disappointing day for us,” head coach Justin Wilcox said. “I’m sick for our players and feel for them. I feel for the guys at Washington.
Everybody was looking forward to this game. Everybody was really excited to play. It’s a tough pill to swallow.”
After a Cal player tested positive during the team’s daily antigen tests and had the result confirmed by a followup PCR test Wednesday, an entire position group and some attached players and coaches were placed into quarantine by Berkeley health officials.
The Cal football program hoped that the other players, who all had subsequent negative tests, would be cleared to play by Saturday. Instead, it became clear Thursday morning that the Bears wouldn’t have the necessary players to match Pac12 guidelines: 53 scholarship players, seven offensive linemen and four defensive linemen.
According to the City of Berkeley, people connected to positive tests in contact tracing must be quarantined for 14 days. This guideline also would put Cal’s game at Arizona State on Nov. 14 in jeopardy, but Wilcox said he hasn’t gotten any clarity from local health officials.
“I wish I knew the answer to that,” Wilcox said. “That’s determined by the local public health office. Not me. Not our trainers or doctors. Not Cal. That’s determined through the contact tracing of the local public health office, which is not affiliated with the university.”
The Cal players took to social media to air their anger about this system Thursday, following an emotional postpractice situation Wednesday when the juniors and seniors pleaded with the team to take seriously the mitigation measures and other protocol that otherwise could cost them the limited games in their college careers.
Cal administration met with epidemiologists before the season to devise a football program plan that includes sidewalk dots that space players by more than 6 feet as they wait for daily coronavirus tests, meetings in the outdoor concourse of the stadium, contact in practice limited to less than 10 minutes and separate pads and water bottles.
“I’m not saying I have a better way,” Wilcox said. “We’re all just looking for the best way and some consistency, and we’ll do exactly that. We’ll follow directions.”
Wilcox said he not talked directly to anyone within the Berkeley public health office. Instead, Cal has a rep who channels the information to him.
He said he has considered moving the team out of Berkeley and Alameda County, which both have more stringent rules than some of the surrounding communities, but that is a decision left to Chancellor Carol Christ and athletic director Jim Knowlton.
“The health and wellbeing of our studentathletes is always at the forefront of our decision making,” Knowlton said in a statement. “We have been diligent in the development and execution of our return to play plan, and our goal all along has been to provide a safe environment and to mitigate risk as much as possible. We know how much our team and the greater Cal Athletics community was looking forward to the start of the football season this weekend.
“While we are disappointed in our inability to play this week, we are confident that we have made the right decision. As we have seen across the country, we knew that there would be COVID19 challenges, and we will continue to follow our protocols to support the health of our studentathletes.”
The Pac12 announced in August that it would postpone the 2020 season, stemming from concerns about the coronavirus pandemic. Momentum to play started the next month.
In the first week of September, the conference made plans to implement daily coronavirus testing. Later in the month, Pac12 leadership voted to return to play a conference only schedule leading to a championship game Dec. 18 or 19.
In the immediate time frame, Wilcox said he plans to have a developmental practice for the younger players Friday and start preparing for the Arizona State road game Monday.
The players “are frustrated,” Wilcox said. “I don’t blame them. But, we knew there would be potholes coming into the season and things we would have to navigate. I expect them to work through this today and be back at it tomorrow. I’d be lying if I said: ‘ I didn’t have my blood boiling a little bit.’
“You want these guys to work really hard to go compete, and that’s why we put so much time in. We respect the virus and the seriousness of it, but they’ve done a really good job. … When the game gets taken away from you, that can be an emotional moment.”
It has to be especially emotional for Cal, which had more promise than any time in the past decade. The Bears — who were scheduled to play a sevengame, Pac12 only regularseason schedule — were picked in the preseason media poll to finish second behind Oregon in the North Division.
Cal will have to finish at least .500 to qualify for its third straight bowl berth. Two of the Pac12’ s bowl partners, the Holiday and Redbox bowls, announced they won’t have games this year and the LA Bowl is in jeopardy. The conference’s other bowl affiliations are the Rose Bowl, Alamo Bowl, Las Vegas Bowl, Sun Bowl and Independence Bowl.
The Rose Bowl is a College Football Playoff semifinal site this year, so if a Pac12 team does not make the playoff, the conference champion will earn a bid to a different New Year’s Six game.
“We’re open to doing whatever we can do to protect our players and give them an opportunity to play,” Wilcox said.