How Will The Season Play Out with Covid-19?

Covid-19 has had a huge impact on many lives across the country, and it’s still yet to be determined what it will do to FBS college football in 2020.

Miami is set to have a big season with the additions of D’Eriq King, Quincy Roche, Jaelan Phillips and many others, yet here we are in mid-July wondering where, when and how the games will be played. The overall health of our players and staff is obviously the number one priority on everyone’s mind, but from a football perspective how could a shortened season or a season moved to the spring affect our Canes?

What if the season is shortened to conference only games? Does the ACC then only play 8 games, or do they add additional games to make the season uniform?

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Let us start with the scenario that all non-conference games are cancelled and the ACC goes straight into conference play. This would mean games against Temple, UAB, Wagner and Michigan St (already cancelled) would not be played. Miami wouldn’t play until October 3rd against the Pitt Panthers. Pitt always plays Miami tough, and with a rough and rugged defense they would be a tough team to try Rhett Lashlee’s offense for the 1st time. Miami would then travel to Wake Forest, have a bye week and then have their most important Coastal Division game at home against UNC. This would leave the Canes no margin for error, and very little time to work out the kinks of a new system with a new QB. In this schedule would the ACC space out the games, or leave them as currently scheduled?

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If the ACC adds a game or 2 to try to keep in state rivalries and to appease Notre Dame, what could that do for Miami? Miami doesn’t have an out of conference in state rival like Florida/FSU or Georgia/GT, so Miami would potentially get to keep an OOC game? Who would they keep in this scenario? Temple would be the most likely opponent, being they’re in a better conference than the other opponents, one which as of today would still probably play football in the fall. Then Miami would have an additional game added to the schedule, and most of us would love another game against Notre Dame. Imagine a September with Temple, a bye week, Notre Dame, an additional bye week, and then directly into conference play. Does that get the juices flowing?

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The worst-case would-be games moving to the spring. First, most of us set our lives around the fall when college football Thursday, Friday’s and Saturday’s dictate our travel and vacation schedule. Six months from now we could know more about the virus, potentially have a vaccine, and be in a better place than where we are now. The question though is what if we are not in a better place? Pushing the games until Spring leave for the potential for football to have to skip a season altogether. Financially this would be the death knell for many athletic departments across the country. From a strictly football perspective, this could wreck the Canes 2020 team as well. In a spring season, guys like Gregory Rousseau, Quincy Roche, D’Eriq King and others would most likely be working on the NFL draft instead of playing a season that would overlap their NFL workouts. Guys wouldn’t want to risk an injury, and quite frankly who could blame them. How many hundreds of guys across the country would most likely make the same decision to skip their season?

Obviously, health and safety of players, coaches, staffs and student is paramount, but these are the scenarios that have been laid out. Will the season happen? Can they possibly keep the players safe? How many kids would rather skip the season and move to the NFL? Would you attend games if masks were required, or is it better for this season to be called before it starts?

With less than two months from the opening of the college football season, many questions have still yet to be answered. How do you want the season to play out? Do you want the season to play out? The NCAA is almost out of time.