The SEC Is On The Clock. What Happens Next?

A deadline that seemed so far away in March now looms large for the 2020 season

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey met with his 14 athletics directors on Monday to discuss the fate of the 2020 college football season. As expected, there were no decisions made, only that this group would revisit the issue in two weeks. Then, Sankey said, some tough decisions are going to have to be made.

A deadline, which seemed so far away in March, now looms large.

We are only 45 days away from Week 0.

And when it comes to SEC football—and all of college football for that matter—we still have lots and lots of questions. Here are just five (plus a bonus question).

1—So exactly what did SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey say on Monday?

I heard some folks weren’t clear about what the commissioner actually said after the Monday meeting Birmingham. Actually, Sankey’s message was very clear. Let me break it down for you:

**--The SEC has 2-3 weeks until it MUST make a decision on the start of the 2020 college football season.

**--The SEC is going to take every minute of that time to monitor the numbers, talk to the medical experts, and gather the best possible data.

**--In order for the SEC to start the season on Sept. 5 as planned, things are going to have to get better. The infection numbers have to be trending down. There has to be consistent testing and the state of the overall health care system has to be good.

2--So can the numbers improve enough in the next two weeks that will allow the season to start on time?

I doubt it. But remember that Sankey, the SEC’s athletics directors and presidents have been working this problem since college sports was shut down on March 12. If Sankey announces two weeks from now the season won’t start on time, he has to be able to say that he and the athletics directors exhausted every option before making a decision.

“The easiest thing to do would be for us to say we’re done right now,” said Scott Strickland, the athletics director at Florida. “We owe it to our student-athletes to do everything we can to give them an opportunity.”

3—Any chance the SEC will just go ahead and shut it down for the season if it can’t start football on Sept. 5?

I don’t think so. If the season doesn’t start on Sept. 5 the SEC will put things on pause and will look for another opening to launch the season.

Take note: There are five Saturdays in October and four in November. Move the SEC championship game to Dec. 12 and that’s 10 Saturdays to get the regular season in.

4--So will the SEC follow the Big Ten and go to a schedule of conference games only?

Perhaps. If the season can’t start until October it’s obvious that the number of games on the schedule will have to be reduced. Even if the season does start on time teams will need some flexibility in case some games have to be postponed. Playing conference games only is a logical way to do that.

I talked to the athletics directors at Georgia (Greg McGarity) and Florida (Scott Stricklin) and if the SEC goes to a schedule of conference games they still want retain their in state rivalries with Georgia Tech and Florida State from the ACC. The same would go for South Carolina (Clemson) and Kentucky (Louisville).

“Four of our schools have traditional in-state rivalries and we want to do our best to preserve those games if possible,” said McGarity, who said he talked to Georgia Tech athletic Todd Stansbury, who also wants to play the game.

Note: A total of eight SEC teams have games scheduled against ACC teams this season.

5—So if the SEC plays football this Fall, will there be fans in the seats?

We don’t know yet. Frankly, there are a couple of things to consider before we get to the fans.

One is the return of the students to campus. As of now, all 14 SEC schools are going to welcome students back for in-person classes. A lot of these schools have enrollments over 30,000. Students are due back in late August.

The other issue, and Sankey brought this up on Monday, is the overall state of the health care system and testing. If hospitals are being stressed to the max because of the virus, do you add football, an extracurricular activity, into the mix?

BONUS QUESTION

What about this idea of waiting until the Spring to play the season? If we can’t play in the Fall, does that idea have a legitimate chance?

For this I’ll quote Duke Coach David Cutcliffe, one of the smartest people in his profession. Spring ball is an option, he said, “when it’s the only option left.”

There are so many hurdles for this idea, which would probably start the season in March and end it in May.

First of all, you’d play the spring season without the Trevor Lawrences of the world. Elite players eligible for the draft are not going to risk injury by playing in a spring season. They will be busy getting ready for the NFL Draft.

Secondly: Are you going to end a season in May and then come back in early August to get ready for the 2021 season?

But the sheer financial pressures may leave the Power Five Conferences with no choice but to play in the Spring.

Since the beginning of this process back in March, we have been told that this would be a football season like no other and that everybody involved would have to be flexible.

So true.