Sacrifice and stress: How players handled season of COVID-19
The Saturday night after winning an afternoon home game is one of the best times to be a college football player. Family and loved ones usually await with congratulatory hugs. Then there is a nice dinner and maybe more celebrating with teammates and friends. Few things get a college town hopping like a football victory. But not this season. “I’d pretty much go home, lay on my couch, watch (video) cut-ups of the game like two or three times. Probably go pick up some food,” Notre Dame offensive tackle Liam Eichenberg said. To play through a pandemic, players had to sacrifice much of their lives away from the game, along with some of the best aspects of being part of a team. To reach the playoff, No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Clemson, No. 3 Ohio State, and No. 4 Notre Dame had to go a combined 37-2 on the field and keep the coronavirus at bay. “It’s been incredibly challenging,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “I just tell them, don’t give up what they want most for what they may want at the moment. It’s just really that simple. And the teams that do this the best and manage this the best, that’s who’s going to finish the best.” Doing so required lots of COVID-19 testing, and the anxiety that comes with knowing the next test could be the one that puts a season on hold, and little time spent with anyone outside the team. Even when the players were together, there were obstacles — both literal and figurative — to bonding with teammates. “Eating together as a team, we do it with a glass divider between us,” Notre Dame receiver Ben Skowronek said Monday during media Zoom sessions for the CFP. “I miss those meals and just getting to know people in the locker room. All that stuff.” Another oddity brought on by the pandemic: Four days before the New Year’s Day semifinals, the playoff participants were still on their respective campuses. Alabama faces Notre Dame in the relocated Rose Bowl at the home of the Dallas Cowboys in Arlington, Texas. Clemson and Ohio State meet at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans in a rematch of last year’s thrilling semifinal. Typically, teams arrive at the site of their semifinal about five or six days in advance. The bulk of the preparation for the game has already been done. At the host city, there are media availabilities, practices, and a walkthrough or two at the stadium. There are activities away from the field, outings, and meals. Plus, some unsupervised time for the players. “Going to a bowl site is always what you work for,” Clemson linebacker Baylon Spector said. “It’s very fun. You get to do a lot of different things.” As for this week, Spector said: “Tonight, we got bingo night. We’re enjoying it as much as we can.” The teams will arrive at the host cities on Wednesday. Alabama and Clemson gave players some freedom to be with family on Christmas and other breaks this season, but with strict orders to mask up and keep their distance, even with loved ones. Notre Dame and Ohio State were more cautious, keeping their players on campus over the recent holiday weekend. There is still more COVID-19 testing to be done, and each team has learned through experience that nothing is guaranteed this season. “It was really stressful, but the main thing was trying to keep a level mind and do the things that we needed to do in order to succeed,” Alabama linebacker Dylan Moses said. Alabama had one game postponed because of an opponent’s COVID-19 outbreak, and it played the Iron Bowl against Auburn without coach Nick Saban after he tested positive. Notre Dame had a virus outbreak pause its season for about two weeks in late September. Clemson star Trevor Lawrence missed two games, including the Tigers’ regular-season loss to Notre Dame, after contracting COVID-19. Ohio State played only six games after the Big Ten started in late October, losing two games because of opponents’ COVID-19 issues and one because of their own. “What stood out to me the most, what I find to be the hard thing is how one day you can practice and the next day you’re out a couple weeks because of COVID,” said Ohio State All-American offensive lineman Wyatt Davis, who has not contracted the virus. “It’s just a day-to-day thing. Holding guys to a standard that you can’t go out and hang out with people. You can’t go see your family.” Josh Myers, Davis’ friend and linemate, did contract COVID-19. Myers said 10 days in isolation was terrible, mostly because of the boredom and inactivity. He said he has had no lingering effects of the virus. Tigers linebacker Mike Jones said winning made the restrictions easier to live with and Clemson did a good job of implementing and enforcing protocols. After a while it felt normal, but it was anything but the usual college experience. “You know it’s kind of weird not being able to hang out with your friends all the time,” Jones said. “Not being able to see your family after the game. Not going home during your bye week because you don’t want to risk it. (No) celebrating after wins and stuff like that. Being with your buddies on the bus to away games. “It’s been a lot. We’ve all had these trials and managed to get through them.” Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
SEC faces strong challenges as college football’s top dog
When LSU’s Ed Orgeron matter of factly declared the SEC as “the best conference in the United States,” he was mostly preaching to the choir in the league’s backyard. But the Southeastern Conference’s once-undisputed status as college football’s top league is facing strong challenges from both the ACC and Big Ten despite Alabama’s best efforts. The Crimson Tide certainly remains formidable as ever, if not invincible, at the top. Beyond that, there’s plenty of uncertainty — and in some cases mediocrity — in a league that won seven straight national titles from 2006-12. “If you’re trying to hit a moving target on this date and say, ‘Is the SEC the best league right now?’, the answer is no,” SEC Network analyst and talk show host Paul Finebaum said Tuesday at media days. “I think it’s probably the ACC. It’s marginal and you can come back and say, ‘Yeah but…’ “Results matter, and the SEC has lost two times in the last four years to the ACC.” Clemson toppled the Tide on a last-second touchdown at the national championship game in January. Florida State claimed the title with a win over Auburn four years earlier. The ACC isn’t the only league mounting a challenge to the league’s supremacy. The Big Ten finished with four teams ranked in the Top 10 in the final AP poll. The league did go 3-7 in bowl games. The ACC enjoyed an 8-3 postseason romp while the SEC’s 12 bowl teams managed just a .500 postseason record. The SEC sent a four-loss Auburn team to the Sugar Bowl, its most prominent non-playoff game. The Tigers lost 35-19 to Oklahoma. Still, SEC teams are faring well on the recruiting trail, with half of the top 12 signing classes in the 247Sports composite rankings this year. Alabama was No. 1 and Georgia only two spots back. For Finebaum, the difference comes down to the head coaches. The ACC has national championship coaches in Clemson’s Dabo Swinney and Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher, along with ex-SEC head men Mark Richt (Miami) and Bobby Petrino (Louisville). The Big Ten starts with Ohio State’s Urban Meyer, who led Florida to a pair of national titles, and Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh topping the pecking order. The days of a Steve Spurrier-Saban-Meyer SEC coaching Mount Rushmore are past. “What do you have now in the SEC? I mean, after Saban, who’s next?” Finebaum said. “There’s no clear second-best coach. And even if you come up with that answer, it’s not concrete.” What is concrete: The ACC held the upper hand last season. That league went 10-4 against SEC teams and won four of five postseason games. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey gets philosophical when asked whether the league has slipped, even quoting a longtime manager of Manchester United. “That’s the nature of competitive endeavors — they’re very close,” Sankey said. “There’s a quote from Sir Alex Ferguson that I read that says in a fiercely competitive endeavor things aren’t decided until the bitter end. So you accept that. But I don’t at all think that’s a representation of slippage. “Our commitment is high, but you’re in a competitive endeavor. You want to win them all, but sometimes you don’t.” There does seem to be a wider disparity between ‘Bama and the rest of the league than among the top conferences. Alabama has won 17 consecutive SEC games, all but three by double-digit margins. A 54-16 dismantling of Florida in the SEC championship game would indicate a sizable distance between the Tide and the rest of the league, though rival coaches are mostly unwilling to measure that gap. “I don’t know the gap itself,” said Gators coach Jim McElwain, a former Alabama offensive coordinator. “I do understand this, they’re right now at the top. It’s up to the rest of us to go get ’em.” It’s clear the rest of the league — like the vast majority of programs — has been lagging well behind Alabama. Georgia coach Kirby Smart, a former Tide defensive coordinator, said the key to closing that gap will be not just recruiting top players but developing them once they arrive on campus. “When you do both, that’s when you got something special,” Smart said. “And I think every team in this conference is trying to play catch-up in regards to that. “I think each one’s getting closer, and we’d like to see that gap closed through recruiting.” And maybe, as a result, once again widen the gap between the SEC and other conferences. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Diane Roberts: Hey, football fans! How’s Donald Trump gonna do?
Greeting sportsfans, I’m Brent Toast of ESPN, along with former Heisman winner Johnny Twitt. Welcome to the most important event of 2016, the college football national championship! Who will prevail? Will it be the Clemson University Tigers, led by evangelical whackjob Dabo Swinney, or the Crimson Tide of Alabama, coached by gazillionaire and part-time Bond villain Nick Saban? But first, let’s look at the second-most important event of 2016, the race for the White House. Who’s playing with his hand in the dirt? Who’s got his ears pinned back? And — this is crucial — who’s No. 1 in pandering? Johnny? Thanks, Brent. Right now I’d say you’ve got to give the edge to Carly Fiorina. Her 40 time ain’t that hot — at 22 hours, it’s right up there with the Matanuska Glacier — but there’s nobody out there more shameless. Check this out: Minutes before Stanford took the field against an Iowa team already demoralized by the sheer number of Republican hopefuls crisscrossing the state, Fiorina sent this tweet: “Love my alma mater, but rooting for a Hawkeyes win today. #Rose Bowl.” Whoa, Johnny! That’s impressively, you might even say, stupidly, brazen. You got it, Brent. Between Christian McCaffrey’s running and the Stanford band’s halftime show featuring cow-tipping and references to FarmersOnly.com, Iowa collapsed like wet wheat. At least Fiorina tried to make a play. All Jeb Bush could come up with was free coozies at the pregame pep rally. Coozies, Johnny? That’s right, Brent. Coozies, black and gold, with “Hawkeyes for Jeb” on ‘em. That’s pretty tragic right there, Johnny. Not even “Jeb for the Hawkeyes.” No. No. What about Marco Rubio? Could be a momentum issue: the Michigan Wolverines delivered an old-fashioned fanny-whupping to Marco Rubio’s Gators down in the Citrus Bowl. That had to hurt. Bad year all round for Florida, Johnny. Houston owned FSU in the Peach and USF got slapped harder than a redheaded stepchild by Western Kentucky. Plus, Rick Scott is their governor. Ugly, Brent. Ugly. What’s happening with the Democrats, football-wise? Well, Brent, no one’s actually seen the Democrats, since they held their debates on game nights, and Hillary Clinton has failed to tell us who she’s supporting in Monday night’s championship game. I have to think it’s Clemson: the state of Alabama has pretty much outlawed Democrats. South Carolina has an early primary, too. What about Donald Trump? Well, that’s the big question. We reached out to his campaign but all they’d say is that he roots for the Wharton School of Business. The Wharton doesn’t have its own football team, Johnny. Must be some confusion with the U Penn Quakers. Au contraire, Brent. Trump specifically stated that the Quakers are “huge losers” and that he would kill ISIS the way they taught him to at Wharton. Well, OK, then. In related news, we now know who bankrolled the skywriting over the Rose Bowl, you know, the “Trump is Disgusting”? A property developer from Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Name’s Stan Pate. Democrat? No, a Republican. Scary. Developer versus developer. It’s like the Civil War. Whatever. Trump’s getting some football love from former Georgia Bulldog great Herschel Walker and Patriot QB Tom Brady … Hot wife. Can’t argue with you there, my friend, but those guys have been hit in the head many, many times. Hard. Got to remember that, Johnny. Stay with us — we’ll be right back with Sen. Bernie Sanders, our guest picker on GameDay. Can he beat Rick Ross and Katy Perry? • • • Diane Roberts teaches at Florida State University. Her latest book is “Tribal: College Football and the Secret Heart of America.” For more state and national commentary visit Context Florida.
