As the college football season presses forward, the number of games that have been postponed or outright canceled due to COVID-19 outbreaks among teams around the country grows larger and larger. This week, the virus has hit SEC teams particularly hard, as the post-Halloween bump on campuses nationwide that was both predictable and unfortunate seems to be hitting.
Arkansas coach Sam Pittman will not coach this weekend after his positive test was confirmed, and Texas A&M, Auburn, Mississippi State, and LSU have all reported having to halt practices due to the virus spreading through the locker room. Mississippi State’s game with Auburn has already been postponed to December 12. The biggest game of the weekend in the SEC was set to be a primetime showdown between LSU and Alabama, but on Tuesday, we learned that game too will be postponed due to LSU having a shortage of players, along with A&M-Tennessee.
NEWS | The Alabama at LSU and Texas A&M at Tennessee FB games of Nov. 14 are postponed due to positive tests, contact tracing & subsequent quarantine of individuals within the LSU and A&M FB programs.
— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) November 10, 2020
There were also reports on Tuesday that Missouri was dealing with a number of positives as well, with a matchup with Georgia looming Saturday, as the SEC could conceivable have to postpone more than half of the league’s games this week. It is a firm reminder of the dangers the virus still presents to our day-to-day lives and how vigilant people have to continue being as new cases spike over 100,000 a day around the country.
Hopefully the players and staffers that contract the virus will be able to remain asymptomatic or experience only mild symptoms and make a full recovery without longterm impacts, but it’s clear that it is getting harder and harder for programs to mitigate the spread as the year wears on.