College football kicks off COVID- 19 style

MONTGOMERY, ALA. » With masks, social distancing and mostly empty stands, the college football season kicked off COVID- 19 style.

Austin Peay and Central Arkansas, two teams fresh from FCS playoff appearances, took the stage at Cramton Bowl Saturday night in the Guardian Kickoff Classic. The Bears won 24- 17 but college football was the star of the show.

“It’s the first game from the pandemic, and so it should mean that much more to everybody. Not just the players,” said Dave Dotson, whose family drove in from Texas to see son Simeon, a defensive back for Central Arkansas.

Only 2,000 tickets were distributed at the 22,000seat stadium, and there appeared to be significantly fewer fans actually attending. A number of them were family members of players.

Masks were required coming into the gates, walking around the stadium and at the concession stands. Coaches and players also wore them on the sidelines.

Dave and Juliana Dotson decided to make the drive with teen sons Reuben and Ephraim — which turned into about 12 hours Friday because of Hurricane Laurarelated detours — after seeing the precautions being taken at the game.

“It made us feel a little better about being here,” Juliana said. “It said there would be four seats in between each group and two rows, so there would be social distancing put in place.”

UAB professor of infectious diseases Michael Saag said the game would be “a good test case” for college football and other events. Both teams were tested Wednesday.

“Let’s pull back to the big picture: Everything we do in this epidemic is an experiment of sorts,” said Saag, who is also associate dean for global health. “Nobody really knows what’s going to happen at any event or with any type of exposure.”