The other people of the South are not yet abandoning their beloved autumnal culture of school football.
While other meetings have granted the fall to COVID-19, the SoutheastErn Conference, the Atlantic Coast Conference and the 12 Majors expect to play a shorter season with national championship prospects.
From Oklahoma to Alabama and South Carolina, several states have NFL groups and school football is king. Weddings and other occasions are planned around game days and states are virtually immobile by clashes like Alabama-Auburn and Oklahoma-Texas.
“It’s so deeply rooted here and in the culture of social life, wheel-sucking and all that,” said Charles Reagan Wilson, professor emeritus at the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi.
The Pac-12, Big Ten and some lesser-known leagues will play football this fall due to the pandemic. VAC equipment? They are already in education for an outing on September 12 and the SEC and the Big 12 are also advancing, with the convention scheduled to open on September 26.
Still, Alabama and other SEC groups head to Practice Monday knowing that school football still applies to them, but it’s guaranteed.
“The only thing I feel is that we don’t know if we’re gambling and we have to play,” Alabama running back Najee Harris said Friday. Then he talked about his younger teammates.
“We looked to tell them not to go to parties, but as if it’s a little hard to tell them not to go to a college party,” he said. “We sense it, but we say, “If you’re going to a party, make sure you’re too sure.”
Clemson’s coach, Dabo Swinney, who took the Tigers to national titles in 2016 and 2018, said “the virus doesn’t happen” without football.
“Yes, it’s possible the boys will still make it and I still get it,” Swinney said. “But we all have to do our life-threatening tests. That was the case. It won’t be anyone else in the spring. Array… Our football team has taken your resolution. We hope that others will respect our resolution and allow it. us to play.
In fact, many enthusiasts hope to do so, as Saturday’s game days would give a sense of normalcy. This is also true for players, many of whom have been concerned about football since childhood. The campus is also a haven for some.
“Coming back from where we are, it’s not smart for us to move from home this time,” said Louisville quarterback Micale Cunningham, a venue in Birmingham, Alabama. “I mean, you can get the virus the way you can get it here, just on the street.”
Louisville coach Scott Satterfield said he believes painting routines provide a design as players move toward Saturday’s finish.
“We have all those protocols, we try, we do all those things to prevent the spread of this virus,” he said. “But if they don’t have an explanation for why, they’re between 18 and 22 years old. I mean, do we think they’re going to sit in their room 24 hours a day? That’s not going to happen.”
Another urgent aspect is who will be there to observe. Teams like Alabama have not announced plans for seating capacity, but athletic director Greg Byrne said it would be particularly reduced. Oklahoma already has a capacity of only 25%.
Has football been politicized? Wilson said he hadn’t realized that governors politicize the issue, but noted that the 3 leagues that make plans to play are largely in “red states.” President Donald Trump and Majority Leader Senator Mitch McConnell, both Republicans, have called for school football to be played.
“I hope the CCA and SEC will refrain from their existing plan to have football this fall,” McConnell said in a radio interview.
Chris Massaro, athletic director of Middle Tennessee State, said it’s vital to leagues like the U.S. Conference, where his program plays football, “being aware of those other conventions.” CUSA plays its convention program and groups can also schedule up to 4 non-convention games.
“I saw an earlier card stretching south of the playing groups. Array… it’s not just one convention to another, they’re also philosophies at the state level,” Massaro said.
For pac-12 and Big Ten leaders, a football season doesn’t value risk.
“Other meetings can be played,” said Michigan State Athletic Director Bill Beekman. I think as a Big Ten conference, we take the resolution that we think of in the most productive interest of our student-athletes, and there will be demanding situations that will happen with it.
Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves made it clear how vital the idea of school football in his state is. He also said that the matches that canceled football “do it because they are afraid of trials and bad press.”
“College football is essential,” Reeves tweeted. “What do the conflicting parties think of football, those children will end up in a bubble without it? You can get COVID anywhere. There are forces that wish to cancel everything to threaten all the prices of society. It’s stupid. We want to balance threats and prices. “
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AP Sports editors Pete Iacobelli and Teresa M. Walker contributed to the report.
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