Utah HC Kyle Whittingham makes appearance on College GameDay
There might be a light at the end of this dark and narrow tunnel.
Speaking as part of a four-person panel, Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham was featured on ESPN's College GameDay this past Saturday.
He was joined by Stanford's David Shaw, Ohio State's Ryan Day and Penn State's James Franklin — all coaches from either the Pac-12 and the Big Ten whose college seasons have been postponed. The main topic of discussion covered during the eight-minute broadcast included daily rapid testing for COVID-19, which could potentially bring back fall sports much sooner than expected.
“Well obviously we’ve got a great medical staff and people that are going to make those decisions,” Whittingham said on the show. “We’ve got guys working around the clock, literally, in trying to determine when it’s going to be safe to return to play. We’re really just listening to them and adhering to what they recommend.”
“The biggest thing for us was being able to make sure that everybody that steps on the field is virus free,” Shaw added. “That’s the safest thing for our players, safest thing for our football coaches, our staff.”
The Pac-12 has remained steadfast on not returning anytime soon, rather waiting until Jan. 1 to make that decision based on the recommendations of its medical advisors.
Unlike the Big Ten, the Pac-12 has six programs (California, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA and USC) that have yet to be cleared for practice due to local health restrictions in the states of California and Oregon.
With it still unknown as too when those programs will be made available to get back on the field, it's extremely difficult for the Pac-12 to plan on returning to practice anytime soon, let alone play.
“For us, it was very difficult to imagine even practicing, let along playing football games as a conference, but with this new deal with Quidel to have rapid daily testing, now we’ve started our planning,” Shaw said. “We’re excited. Our players are excited that football is on the horizon — maybe not as early as we want it to happen, but at the same time our guys are getting ready.”
Aiding in the Pac-12's efforts to play is the new partnership between the conference and Quidel Corporation, a diagnostic company with rapid COVID-19 testing that can produce results in 15 minutes.
Campuses are expected to have that available by the end of the month, signifying a return could be closer than anticipated — but Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott wouldn't commit to it.
“Right now, I’ve got a high degree of confidence that we’ll be playing in January,” Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott told Dan Patrick on his show a few weeks ago. “It’s possible because of this announcement that we could play sooner. I think the significance of yesterday’s announcement, having access to this testing, I can look you in the eye virtually and tell you that I have a high degree of confidence we’re playing, just on a postponed base. We are going to have a full and exciting season for our student-athletes. I shouldn’t say full as in playing 12 games, I think it will be abbreviated like it is in other conferences. What’s now also a possibility is that we could start earlier than January but that’s going to depend on some things outside of our control.”
While the Pac-12 is staying put for now, Day and Franklin both alluded to the Big Ten potentially moving up its time frame. Like the Pac-12, the Big Ten has a medical advisory committee who makes these recommendations regarding playing.
“We’ll just defer to their decisions and their conversations,” Day said. “I think a lot has changed, too. Every day it changes,” he said. “It’s changed a lot in two weeks. It changes every day and so we’re learning more and more every day and so we’re just looking forward to see what comes next.”
“We just want to know what the future holds,” Franklin added. “First and foremost, we want to keep everyone safe and healthy, and if we’re able to do that, then we want an opportunity to compete.”
Day said the conference is wanting to return by mid-October in hopes of joining the College Football Playoff conversation. While that's not a done deal, he believes that returning around that time period would allow the Buckeyes (who have legitimate national championship aspirations) to be considered.
“We certainly understand that there’s been hundreds of thousands of people who have lost their lives and lost loved ones during this time,” Day said. “By no means comparing what they’ve been through — compared to what we’ve been through — but it has been very difficult for our players. They’re having a hard time in the last month and certainly the last couple of weeks just understanding how this is all fits for them. They’ve done everything we’ve asked.”