Just because I’ve commented about Clay Travis lately doesn’t mean I can’t give credit where credit is due to Mr. Steaming Hot Takes himself, Danny Kanell.
Yeah, it’ll be the media that kills the season. That’s the ticket.
At least Travis has a website and a business to promote. Kanell trolls for the sheer pleasure of it.
Filed under Media Punditry/Foibles, The Body Is A Temple
All those guarantee game cancellations killed these guys.
On the bright side, there might be some fun football to watch this spring.
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UPDATE: Teetering on the brink?
Filed under It's Not Easy Being A Mid-Major
This time, from the AAC.
The hazard pay ask is a nice touch, don’t you think?
The SEC yesterday announced its initial medical protocols. There’s a lot to digest.
TESTING
- The SEC will coordinate centralized testing through a third-party provider to ensure consistency in surveillance and pre-competition testing. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is the current standard testing method for the COVID-19 virus. Alternative testing methods may be considered if sufficient data develops to support those methods.
- In the sport of football, student-athletes and others in direct contact with the program will receive a PCR surveillance test at least twice weekly during competition, typically six days and three days prior to competition. The Task Force recommends exploring alternative testing methods that will accommodate a third test, in addition to the two required PCR tests, that will provide for the reliability and rapid response necessary for diagnostic testing in a time frame closer to competition.
- In the sports of volleyball and soccer, student-athletes and others in direct contact with the program will receive a PCR surveillance test at least twice weekly during competition, with one to occur three days prior to the first competition of the week. The Task Force recommends exploring alternative testing methods that will accommodate a third test, in addition to the two required PCR tests, that will provide for the reliability and rapid response necessary for diagnostic testing in a timeframe closer to the first competition of the week.
- In the sport of cross country, student-athletes and others in direct contact with the program will receive a PCR surveillance test at least once per week during competition, with that test to occur three days prior to each competition.
MASKING
- In football, volleyball and soccer, all coaches, staff and non-competing personnel will be required to wear face coverings on the sideline and physical distancing will be employed to the extent possible.
- In cross country, competing student-athletes are required to wear a face covering at the starting line, which may be removed when proper distancing has been achieved. Coaches and staff associated with cross country competition are expected to utilize social distancing to the extent possible and will be required to wear a face covering during pre- and post-competition.
OTHER NOTES
- Each institution is required to designate a COVID-19 Protocol Oversight Officer who will be responsible for education and ensuring compliance with the SEC’s COVID-19 management requirements.
- The SEC announced in July that student-athletes in all sports who elect to not participate in intercollegiate athletics during the fall 2020 academic semester because of health and/or safety concerns related to COVID-19 will continue to have their scholarships honored by their university and will remain in good standing with their team.
- The full SEC Return to Activity and Medical Guidance Task Force Requirements for COVID-19 Management of Fall Sports can be found here.
The big things there are (1) mandatory twice a week testing, with a recommendation for a finding a way to do a third; (2) staff and non-competing personnel being required to wear face coverings on the sideline; (3) physical distancing on the sidelines; and (4) non-participating athletes will remain on scholarship and in good standing with their programs. (Nothing on eligibility, though, a common concern being expressed now by college athletes.)
Also, here’s Ron Courson, talking about the protocols and how they’ll be applied at UGA.
Of all the things I worry about when it comes to COVID and college football, Ron Courson isn’t one of them.
Filed under Georgia Football, SEC Football, The Body Is A Temple
First, a refresher on what came out last night:
The folks at ESPN have been busy revising the stats in the wake of that. Here’s how FPI now ranks SEC teams’ strength of schedule:
SEC StatCat ran the schools through the last set of Bill Connelly’s SP+ rankings and came up with this:
The SEC said it would add the two games with strength of schedule in mind and while these two statistical approaches don’t completely see eye to eye, they do indicate that was what happened, at least to the extent of making sure the conference powerhouses weren’t seeing their schedules overloaded. While that had the obvious effect of making Arkansas’ life miserable, it did mean that the chances of schools like Alabama, Florida, Georgia and LSU making the CFP field weren’t diminished. (You could argue that the SEC doesn’t see much of a bowl future for the 2020 season, too.)
Selfishly speaking, Georgia made out like a bandit with the changes. Both statistical models show there to be almost no difference in the schedule strength for the Dawgs and Gators now. One of Mullen’s real advantages over Smart for 2020 just disappeared.
That all being said, there are two unknowns remain before we can fully assess how this plays out. One is under the conference’s control, that being the schedule order. For example, what kind of November will Tennessee wind up with?
The other is the coronavirus itself. Sure, that’s one daunting gauntlet that Arkansas is looking to run, but what happens if there’s a week when a healthy Hog team faces off against a squad that’s lost, say, 15 or 20 players that have tested positive?
Any thoughts, y’all?
Filed under SEC Football, Stats Geek!
Let’s hear it for Colorado State, which, in a matter of a few short months with a brand new coach, has managed the difficult Daily Double of substandard safety protocols and racism/verbal abuse accusations that need to be investigated by the administration that hired him.
I mean, there are programs that take years to get to that point. Salut!
Filed under It's Not Easy Being A Mid-Major
What “we’re prioritizing the health and safety of our student athletes” and hoping for the best translates to in sober expert-ese:
Good luck with that, everyone.
Filed under College Football, The Body Is A Temple
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On a related note, I saw the questions and comments from some of you about closing two comment threads this week. I apologize if I didn’t make this clearer, but there won’t be any public shaming of those who cause a thread shutdown. It didn’t work before. More importantly, I don’t want to waste the time deciding whom I need to point the finger at. The new policy isn’t about punishing people nearly so much as it is about making my life easier. (If anyone gets the boot under the new policy, that’ll be why, too.)
That being said, if you want to indulge your inner sleuth, it really shouldn’t be that hard to figure out where a comment thread goes off the rails. Follow the time stamps on the comments before my notice of a shutdown. And watch the posts about COVID, because that’s where most of the spiraling into the abyss happens.
Thanks for your cooperation.
Filed under GTP Stuff
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