Amid a recent run of discouraging news about the diminishing potential for a college football season this fall, the American Athletic Conference offered up some hope this week.
While fall sports have been canceled by the Ivy and Patriot leagues, with the exception of Olympic sports at Army and Navy, the AAC moved forward on Thursday with a plan to conduct COVID-19 testing for its football teams at least 72 hours before each game.
Commissioner Mike Aresco made the announcement in a statement that included an assurance such testing would extend throughout the regular and bowl seasons.
“Our overall operational protocols will be finalized shortly,” Aresco said in the statement, “and may be revised as circumstances and new information warrant.”
Protocols for Olympic sports testing and operations were still being finalized.
Considering the AAC is a Group of Five league with 11 football-playing members in nine states, including four that ended last season ranked in the Associated Press Top 25, the public proclamation may have boosted spirits across a wide range of the struggling sports landscape.
While the Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences have already slashed non-conference games from their 2020 football plans, the AAC is still holding out hope of making this work amid a global pandemic.
As for the 72-hour testing protocol, it makes sense in terms of game preparation and roster management, especially when it comes to late-week practice repetitions for a backup quarterback who may be pressed into service. But it also means an extra 24 to 48 hours of personal discipline on the part of players who might not come fully together in a team hotel until the eve of the game.
Proposed COVID-19 testing for Power 5 football schools would have to take place “within 72 hours” of kickoff, according to a nonbinding medical document obtained by Sports Illustrated. That might not seem like a big difference, but it certainly leaves the potential for a day or two or separation between what the AAC is requiring and what Power 5 programs could mandate.
There’s also the complication of the AAC’s varied schedule. Central Florida, for instance, is scheduled to play four times on Friday night this fall with another game set for Thursday.
“We are committed to meeting or exceeding all guidelines and standards recommended by the NCAA and its member institutions in all fall sports, including football,” Aresco’s statement added.
The AAC has represented the Group of Five in the New Year’s Six bowl slate for three years running. Central Florida earned the nod after the 2017 and 2018 regular seasons, with Memphis stepping up in 2019.
East Carolina is still scheduled to face Marshall on Aug. 29. Should that hold, that would make the Pirates the first AAC football team to take the field this fall.
I have worked in mainstream media as a sports journalist for over three decades with stops at newspapers in Durham, Augusta, Fort Lauderdale, St, Paul and Indianapolis.
I have worked in mainstream media as a sports journalist for over three decades with stops at newspapers in Durham, Augusta, Fort Lauderdale, St, Paul and Indianapolis. In that time I have covered multiple Final Fours, Super Bowls, World Series and Olympics as well as the Professional Putters Association national championship — which is slightly different from the Masters. Now based in South Bend, Ind., I’m still trying to make my next story the best one yet.