Virus can cause Pac-12 forfeits

The Pac-12 announced Thursday that any conference team “unable to play a contest through its own fault” this season will be forced to forfeit. New Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff ultimately will make the decision.

Any forfeited game will be considered a loss for the team at fault.

The policy marks a return to the conference’s long-standing rules on forfeiture. But with COVID-19 likely to impact college football through 2021, the rule could come into play this season far more than before.

Last season, the Pac-12 was forced to step in and declare USC’s critical November matchup with Colorado a nocontest after three positive coronavirus cases left the Trojans without the necessary number of players to field its offensive line. Under the current policy, USC would have forfeited the game, and Colorado likely would have represented the Pac-12 South in the conference championship game.

USC head coach Clay Helton said at Pac-12 media day last month that the Trojans boasted a vaccination rate above 90% among players, and that all of their coaches and support staff were vaccinated.

If any of the team’s unvaccinated players tests positive or is deemed to come in close contact with someone who tests positive for the coronavirus, that player will have to isolate for 10 days. A vaccinated player, on the other hand, must isolate for three days and provide a negative test.

UCLA head coach Chip Kelly’s team is subject to similar COVID-19 safety protocols. However, even a vaccinated player would have to isolate for “approximately 10 days” if he tests positive, a university spokesman said Wednesday.

The Bruins, however, typically disclose no injury details, making it harder to confirm the reasons for player absences. Quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson missed the first seven UCLA practices for undisclosed reasons. Kelly said that should not impact Thompson-Robinson’s preparation for the season.

Kelly said Wednesday that 98% of the players are vaccinated, with a small group that has received a waiver.

Baylor update: Dave Aranda became Baylor’s head coach about 19 months ago knowing that NCAA penalties were coming for a scandal that embroiled the football program long before he arrived.

It had been much longer for athletic director Mack Rhoades, who found “an institution and athletics department in turmoil” when he took the job five years ago in the wake of the revelation of a sprawling sexual-assault scandal that cost two-time Big 12 champion head coach Art Briles his job.

With the NCAA case against the Bears finally resolved, and without any major programcrushing penalties, they can move forward without that lingering unknown.

With no players or coaches remaining from Briles’ tenure, Baylor was placed on four years of probation, but could play in a bowl game. There will be recruiting restrictions in place for Aranda and his staff during the 2021-22 academic year, including a reduction of 30 official visits and a threeweek ban on unofficial visits.

The penalties could have been much worse considering the scope of the allegations, but the actual mishandling of sexual-assault claims by Baylor was deemed out of the NCAA’s jurisdiction.