Alabama Football: Fall football hinges more on quarantines than fans in stands

Alabama football and other Power Fives grapple less with if and more with how to have a season

On Monday, July 27, Alabama football will be five weeks away from game week No. 1. Several key circumstances remain unresolved. The simplest is the Crimson Tide currently has no Week No. 1 opponent. It will not be Southern Cal or TCU or Notre Dame. It may be BYU or the Crimson Tide may not open until Sept. 12; against a now un-named opponent. Be assured, the SEC is still fighting and planning for fall football. When and how is the current task.

Re-scheduling is a big job. It is small compared to other challenges. Most Alabama football fans are focused on how many Crimson Tide fans will be allowed in Bryant-Denny Stadium. Full capacity is a pipe dream. There is zero factual basis to believe attendance at college football games will not be reduced. Can capacities be 50 percent or 25 percent or might they be much less? Right now, only Governors and possibly Mayors can make final decisions. The NCAA could become involved in the debate, as can conferences. The decentralized nature of college football often pushes tough decisions to the lowest functional level as possible.

For the conferences still intending to have seasons, Governors will be forced to make hard calls. Reported by Yahoo Sports, the Governor of New Jersey has taken a tough stance. Fan attendance at Rutgers home games this fall will be limited to 500 fans. Jokes can be made the limit will impact only another couple of thousand, few-in-number, Rutgers fans. But searching for humor on the issue is akin to whistling in the dark.

More serious than fan capacity is the challenge of quarantine protocols. Players, in large numbers in some situations, may miss games while quarantined. The problem could be great enough that a few teams will not have enough available players to play a game. Are those extreme possibilities? Hopefully, yes, but maybe, no.

The NCAA and the Power Fives intend to follow Center for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines. A recent story from SI.com, explained

"According to both the Power 5 and NCAA guidelines, those who test positive for COVID-19 must isolate for at least 10 days from their onset of symptoms/positive test and until they’ve gone at least three days without symptoms. However, those found to have contact with the infected must miss even more time—two full weeks—even if they test negative for the virus."

What does contact mean? It means being inside a safe distance zone with a person who tests positive for the virus, symptomatic or not. Football is a game of contact. One player testing positive could cause several other players having to quarantine. Since a positive test may not be known until days after contact, players may not be fully protected inside a bubble. The NBA and MLS ‘Bubbles’ have been mostly successful. Keeping a college football player inside a bubble for a football season would be far more difficult, if not impossible.

Coaches will be tested as frequently as players. They will have the same quarantine restrictions. Imagine the Crimson Tide, having to play a game without Nick Saban or some position coaches on the sideline. Graduate assistants and analysts like Charlie Strong and Butch Jones might have to step in.

One hopeful alternative is using a slightly different protocol. After repeat negative tests, quarantines might be shortened for players or coaches. Plans and protocols are fluid. In some geographic areas, the odds of testing positive for the virus are very low. The odds are higher in the state of Alabama.

What can Alabama football fans do to ensure a season? Do what Nick Saban has been asking for a few months – wear a mask; social distance; frequently wash hands. Surely that is not as onerous as a canceled or severely curtailed college football season.