A select group of Big 12 athletic directors have been led with one of the deepest tasks of the coronavirus-affected season: playing God when it comes to deciding whether a game should continue on schedule.
The five-AD subcommittee, from Baylor, Kansas State, Oklahoma, TCU, and West Virginia, is in the early stages of setting thresholds for deferrals, cancellations, and even losses. Their recommendations will go through various filters, since coaches, players, other ADs and the commissioner will have their input.
At least at the Power Five level, all conferences will be forced to make similar decisions. The task of agreeing on what it would take to cancel a game due to COVID-19 is not an easy one.
“The purpose of discussing this is that you don’t want to play with a dismantled team,” said West Virginia athletic director Shane Lyons. “So what does that look like?”
In the early stages, the considerations are as follows:
Losing 25 percent of fellows: That is a threshold that is being considered. Using the maximum of 85 scholarships, a loss of a quarter of those players equals 21. Few programs, if any, work with the maximum of 85. However, a 25 percent reduction in that number would mean 64 scholarship players. . That begs the question, how many players do coaches make? Really need? Road trip lists generally have a 60-70 limit as-is.
CBS Sports spoke to a former big college coach who said the minimum number of players a program needed to play was 53, basically the highest on the NFL list. That would include 44 in the two depth charts, a long snapper, support, and some special gear.
“We want input from students and athletes,” said Lyons. “What does it mean to the athlete? I bring in the quarterbacks. What if something happens to all of your quarterbacks? What do you want to do, put in a tight end who played as a quarterback? Is that what do we want the game to be? “
Cross training: If the rosters are shortened, one consideration is that players train in multiple positions to make the lineup more flexible. That means a defensive lineman may also have to prepare as an offensive lineman, a wide receiver for defensive backup. No one talks about single-squad football.
TCU AD Jeremiah Donati emphasized the preliminary nature of the study. “What constitutes a disqualified team?” He asked himself. “Is it a percentage of men in your total number? Is it a percentage of scholarship men? Is it the number of men in a depth table in one position?”
Tests: We have broached the subject this week. There is no national standard for COVID-19 testing. Power Five schools are discussing a game week standard that their programs could adhere to. That would only help decide if a game is going to be played. The problem is not only the availability of the player but also the time. Oklahoma AD Joe Castiglione wondered about the key players who tested positive the day before a game. “If a team has reached or passed the threshold where there are not too many players available, that is what we are trying to overcome,” he said. “I wish there were easy ways to do this.”
Gameplay: This is complicated. Can’t play a game at one point? At one point a coach did not want a game to play? “All three quarterbacks are sick. You have to play a freshman who shouldn’t be playing,” said Randy Cohen of Arizona, associate director of athletics for medical services, who was playing a stage. “Are you going to pull the trigger [and play] Or … the only reason you want to do that is because you have a quarterback who is a freshman. That’s game, not security. “
Calendar: College football schedule doesn’t offer much leeway to make up for games. One Big 12 AD said it is looking to call opponents without a conference in its region anytime soon if a game is canceled. Another said that a canceled no conference game could be done in a unique way: two Big 12 teams with open dates playing a game without a conference.
The Big 12 is among a couple of Power Five conferences that have considered delaying their championship games. Lyons suggested that the Big 12 Championship Game could be held up to two weeks later, on December 19. That could provide time for league members to retrieve canceled or postponed games.
He added that the conference still has “a month or so” to decide how to cancel the games.
