Podcast: Almost half the country has canceled football. Miami is trying to make it work
One of the strangest weeks in college football history is almost over. The Big Ten Conference and Pac-12 Conference have both postponed their fall sports seasons into the spring. Athletes across the country have united to advocate for a players association and say #WeWantToPlay. All the while, the Miami Hurricanes are still practicing and preparing to play football this fall in South Florida amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
College football season, it’s safe to say, is in jeopardy, but the Atlantic Coast Conference is going to do all it can to try and play.
On the latest episode of the Eye on the U podcast, David Wilson and Susan Miller Degnan, the Miami Herald’s Hurricanes beat writer, try to hash out their mixed feelings about the week and the sport’s plans moving forward. We’re excited to see the ACC try to make this work, we just worry it might ultimately be impossible. We also talk through all the complicated new variables, like the new concern about myocarditis and how teams will manage once campuses fill up with tens of thousands of students.
Either way, the ACC should be learning from the Big Ten and Pac-12 decisions, which means contingency plans in case things have to move to the spring and a smarter health protocol to make Miami’s athletes feel as safe as possible. As far as we know, it has gone well so far in Coral Gables, although all it takes is one outbreak to throw the season into flux.
The coronavirus has already affected the Hurricanes’ roster in one important way, though. Star defensive end Gregory Rousseau opted out of the 2020 season Aug. 6, leaving Miami without a potential top-10 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. His reasoning behind opting out deserves to be heard out, even if it is disappointing for Hurricanes fans.
Don’t worry: Jaelan Phillips should be pretty exciting, too.
