Cal Football: How Can the Bears and the Pac-12 Season Survive COVID-19?

We offer a dramatic solution in a season that has already faced so many obstacles

Photo by Stan Szeto, USA Today

We’ve got a wild suggestion in response to the COVID-19 pandemic that seems, more than ever, to be threatening the Pac-12 football season.

But first, some context:

COVID-19 relegated one-third of all Pac-12 football teams to the sideline last weekend as the conference finally began play.

Cal was one of the four teams shelved by the coronavirus and the Bears still were waiting Monday night for a decision from Berkeley Public Health on whether they would be allowed to play Saturday at Arizona State.

“I’m nervous,” ASU coach Herm Edwards said. “I think every coach is nervous right now. You look at the report of how this thing is going — it’s going in a bad direction.”

Cal was put out of commission by just one positive COVID-19 test when teammates were forced into quarantine following contact tracing. That left the Bears without any players at a specific position group — believed to be defensive line — and forced the cancellation of their game vs. Washington.

But Edwards is correct — it’s a problem facing everyone, everywhere:

— Utah’s opener vs. Arizona was canceled because the Utes had an undisclosed number of players test positive. A Monday story in the Salt Lake Tribune began this way: “The COVID-19 outbreak inside the University of Utah football program is bad, if not worse than most outsiders may have assumed.”

Coach Kyle Whittingham noted, “We’ve had some players that have become very sick . . . We had one player that had a tough go of it.”

That one player was briefly hospitalized, and at practice the Utes have been forced to give two-deep reps to scout-team players and walk-ons.

— Stanford played at Oregon without three players, including starting quarterback Davis Mills, who either had tested positive or were in quarantine after contact tracing.

— Washington State had at least one active case, and the Cougars were missing 32 players for their game at Oregon State. Coach Nick Rolovich declined to reveal how many of those were COVID-related.

— UCLA was without one defensive player who has tested positive and won’t be available this week to face Utah . . . assuming the Utes are cleared to play.

Said Edwards, speaking for all coaches, “We’re playing against two opponents. The opponent you game plan for and that other opponent you cannot see. And it’s the virus.”

So the Bears — and the entire Pac-12 — wonder what’s next.

Will Berkeley Public Health give Cal good news even after explaining that a 14-day quarantine is necessary to assure that a person exposed to the virus does not contract the illness?

Their approach has been effective, keeping coronavirus numbers very low in Berkeley. And while coach Justin Wilcox said he respects the protocols, he also hinted that those restrictions are more severe than Cal officials envisioned.

If clearance for this week isn’t granted, what will be the response from Cal? Even if the Bears are permitted to play this time, what happens if/when there is another positive test result?

Don’t we now understand that’s almost inevitable?

At some point, there just isn’t much of a football season to play.

Wilcox told reporters last Thursday that simply changing game-day venues is not an option:

He wasn’t as definitive when asked if Cal has considered moving its entire team to another location, where it would practice, attend virtual classes and play out the remainder of its schedule.

In other words, create a “Golden Bear Bubble” at a destination without the severe restrictions Berkeley Public Health has imposed.

Here Wilcox acknowledges that idea has been discussed:

Even if Cal packed up and moved its entire program to a new Zip code, a conference-wide problem isn’t resolved.

So here’s what we have in mind:

Put the entire Pac-12 into a bubble.

Seriously.

Move all 12 teams — players, coaches, staff — to Las Vegas. Give them several floors to themselves in one of the big hotels, where they will eat their meals, do their schoolwork and hold their meetings.

Find high school fields that will give them practice time.

And play on the Raiders’ new Allegiant Stadium — three games each on Fridays and Saturdays through the end of the schedule. The Pac-12 is moving its championship game to Alliegiant, so there already is a relationship between the parties.

Will there be questions — even pushback — from campus administrators? Yep.

Is this almost too much to pull together virtually overnight? Absolutely.

Are there a million details that I haven’t addressed? I’m pretty sure.

But . . . does anyone have a better idea?

The alternative may be a Pac-12 football season that becomes the latest casualty in a cruel pandemic.

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Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo

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