Report: Oklahoma Pushing for Extra BYE Week Before Tennessee Match-Up
The College Football season is looking less likely to happen than ever before, as numerous conferences have elected to make modifications to their football schedules as cases of COVID-19 skyrocket throughout the United States. The Ivy League was the first conference to make a move, announcing last Wednesday that they would cancel all athletic events until January, with the Big Ten announcing that they would move to a conference-only schedule the next day. Those decisions set the stage for the PAC-12 to announce that it would cancel all of its non-conference games on Friday.
Despite the season appearing unlikely, one of Tennessee’s most important opponents of the 2020-21 schedule is currently pushing for an extra week of preparation leading up to its match-up against the Volunteers. Oklahoma recently sent a waiver to the NCAA requesting to move their season opener against Missouri State backwards a week from September 5th to August 29th, according to a report by the Oklahoman. The university claims that its plan would dramatically decrease the risk of players carrying COVID-19 spreading the highly contagious respiratory illness on to others — arguing that an extra week before the Tennessee game would give them extra time to locate infected players and put them into social isolation.
Despite the decisions by the other conferences, both the SEC and Big 12 have not made any decision in regards to modifications for the season; although all 14 SEC athletic directors will reportedly meet in Birmingham, Alabama on Monday to discuss the best plan going forward for the conference.
“At this time our medical and scientific advisors have suggested we should move ahead slowly and with constant re-evaluation,” said Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby on how the Big 10’s decision will affect his conference “We plan to continue to prepare for all available scenarios until we are informed that some are no longer viable.”
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey gave a similar statement following the Big Ten’s decision to only play conference games. “The Southeastern Conference will continue to meet regularly with our campus leaders in the coming weeks — guided by medical advisors — to make the important decisions necessary to determine the best path forward related to the SEC fall sports," said Sankey. "We recognize the challenges ahead and know the well-being of our student-athletes, coaches, staff and fans must remain at the forefront of those decisions.”
The Vols’ match-up against Oklahoma is currently scheduled to be played on September 12th in Norman, prior to Tennessee’s season-opener against the Charlotte 49ers on September 5th. The Sooners first game of the year is scheduled to be against Missouri State — and will be played on either August 29th or September 5th, depending on the outcome of their waiver with the NCAA.
