One C-USA team has canceled fall football. What does it mean for Southern Miss, C-USA?
Old Dominion became the first member of Conference USA to strike out on its own and cancel all fall sports, including football, but that doesn’t mean Southern Miss and the rest of the conference are planning to follow suit.
ODU announced its decision Monday morning, not long after the Detroit Free Press reported that the Big Ten’s presidents voted 12-2 against holding a football season this fall.
The Pac-12 is also expected to announce Tuesday that it won’t be playing football this fall, according to a report by Dan Patrick.
Momentum appears to be building to postpone the 2020 football season and possibly try to play in spring, but USM Athletic Director Jeremy McClain believes most C-USA athletic directors are in agreement that games can be played this fall.
“I’m hesitant to speak for everyone, and I don’t want to say everybody is on the same page,” McClain told the Sun Herald on Monday. “I think we want what’s best for our student-athletes. There’s a balance there between safety and letting them do what they love to do. We’re all trying to work to find that balance.”
McClain said that he and other conference officials had an idea ODU was considering not playing football this fall.
“It was a little surprising, but we have had conversations about their situation,” he said. “We did have an indication that they were working on some things.”
Just because ODU has decided to sit this fall out, McClain doesn’t think that means other conference members will follow their lead.
“I think we’ve known from the beginning it may be a situation where an institution or two may feel like they can’t move forward, but that doesn’t necessarily dictate how the other institutions in the conference respond,” he said. “We’re still trying to work through this.”
He did acknowledge that if more conferences follow the Big Ten, it becomes much more difficult to make football happen this fall.
“As other conferences make decisions, at some point that may affect what we’re doing,” McClain said. “We have overused the term ‘fluid’, but we’ll continue to evaluate the situation on campus and what we’re doing as a group. I know all our young men want to play football. Our coaches and fans want to play. I want to give our players the opportunity to compete.
“It’s just a matter of us continuing to evaluate what’s happening. We are our own league, but at some point if things are happening around us nationally, we’ll have to make a decision.”
Overcoming hurdles at USM
From the cost of a COVID-19 testing program for athletes to the possibility of football players organizing and threatening to sit out the 2020 season, there are plenty of hurdles for football this fall.
McClain believes USM’s program can overcome those obstacles and get on the field in September as planned.
“There is the national conversation that decisions are based on money, but that’s not the situation we’re in,” he said. “We’re trying to find the best path forward to keep our players safe to get where we all want to be. Can we work through that? Yeah, I think we can. I can only speak for Southern Miss.
“It’s going to be a challenge revenue-wise. I’d much rather play football and give our players a chance to compete if we can do it safely. We’ll work through it one day at a time. There is no perfect scenario where no risk is involved. We can’t create bubbles.”
Southern Miss recently added home games against Tennessee Tech (Sept. 19) and Tulane (Sept. 26) to the schedule after Jackson State’s games were called off this fall and Auburn dropped off the slate when the SEC decided to play only in-conference contests.
Mississippi’s COVID-19 guidelines limit attendance at sporting events to 25% of capacity, and USM has yet to announce who would be allowed to attend home games.
Many football players have taken to social media recently to let people know that they want to play this season, using the hashtag #WeWantToPlay.
Even President Donald Trump weighed in Monday on Twitter: “The student-athletes have been working too hard for their season to be cancelled. #WeWantToPlay”
USM redshirt senior quarterback Jack Abraham tweeted out in all caps on Monday, “WE WANT TO PLAY FOOTBALL.”
Southern Miss football battles COVID-19
The USM football team began fall camp Aug. 5, and the early stages of practice haven’t been unscathed by the coronavirus.
The Sun Herald has learned that at least two Golden Eagles were placed in quarantine early in camp, forcing them to miss practice.
McClain didn’t go into detail on the COVID-19 issues that head coach Jay Hopson and his staff have faced during the first week of camp, but he did acknowledge the task at hand for the program’s medical staff.
“I think the challenge here is how you contact trace and quarantine — the logistical issues that people don’t think about when you’re trying to limit exposure,” McClain said. “We have had a few cases we’ve had to work through, and we’re just trying to limit that and the impact on the rest of the group. Logistically, we’re trying to limit the exposure once we have the issue. Our medical staff is doing a really good job.”
USM offensive coordinator Matt Kubik and defensive coordinator Tony Pecoraro say they’ve had several players sidelined early in camp for a variety of reasons, including illness.
If football is played this fall, the team who is the healthiest will have the edge on game day.
“We’ve had all kind of rotations going, whether through being sick or through injury. It’s all over the place,” Pecoraro said. “You’ve got to get them all ready. That’s the one thing about this year, you have to get them all already. If you’re not, you don’t know who you’re playing with. You hope you’re playing with some guys, but who knows. Only the good Lord knows that.”
For now, fall camp will move forward at USM with preparations for the Sept. 3 opener in Hattiesburg against South Alabama.
This story was originally published August 10, 2020 at 2:51 PM.
