Get ready for chaos because on the same dance Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson ignored “the science” and prevented high schools from fall contact sports, the NCAA told teams to do what you want.
Welcome to a typical Tuesday in 2020.
The football oversight committee of the kangaroo court in Indianapolis that struggles to even appear it has much to do with big time college football effectively shrugged and told teams to do whatever they want.
Oklahoma followed by Kansas in the Big 12 moved their season openers UP a week to Aug. 29.
The Razorbacks are still set to open against Nevada at Razorback Stadium on Sept. 5. No one in a position to know anything has indicated anything different.
But now all major college football teams to begin their seasons as early as Aug. 29 with the blanket waiver they granted Tuesday.
It opens the door for some massive re-shuffling, including moving conference games scheduled for later in the year to be moved up to make sure they get the games played this season as nobody can predict the coronavirus.
Meanwhile, in Arkansas, the Governor on Tuesday stepped to the podium on his daily coronavirus update and said he’s not approving high schools having “contact” practices … yet.
Exactly what science he’s looking at is not exactly clear. Looking at overall positive test results and other overall numbers may not be the best way without going a layer or two deeper.
Not a single person under the age of 24 in the state has died from the virus. Considering the overall mortality rate in Arkansas (all ages, physical condition) is 1.06%, the rate for college and high school-aged kids is 0.
As the national experts everyone likes to quote has said — with a whole bunch of “what mights” or “what-ifs” — most young people never even suffer a symptom.
While there hasn’t been a single college football player die or even be hospitalized from the virus, everyone seems to be in a panic over positive tests and to quarantine people that are not sick or showing a symptom.
It will probably be awhile before we get any sort of accurate data on how many false positive tests are being done. The guess from talking with medical professionals is it likely could be much higher than anybody suspects.
There’s not even a documented case in the world of a student passing the virus to a teacher in the countries where schools have remained open.
For the Hogs and the world of college football, get ready.
The season may be fluid for the entire year.
Teams may start shoving conference games toward the front of the schedule just to try and get them in before somebody knee-jerks and pulls the plug.
Who know what Wednesday might bring.
