Wednesday, the Texas Tech football team’s new 2020 schedule was released and it is an upgrade over the original one. Let’s take a look at why.
The Texas Tech football team has a new schedule one day after the board of directors voted to proceed with fall sports. And on the same day that the conference released its new slate of games, conference commissioner Bob Bowlsby explained why the Big 12 feels like proceeding with fall competition is important.
"Speaking to the media virtually he said, “Ultimately, our student-athletes have indicated their desire to compete in the sports they love this season and it is up to all of us to deliver a safe, medically sound, and structured academic and athletic environment for accomplishing that outcome.”"
The new 10-game schedule (which allows for teams to have one non-conference game) will begin with all 10 teams kicking off Big 12 play on September 26. Each team will have a pair bye dates and some actually have a third.
The Big 12 Championship Game is tentatively scheduled for December 12 but could be moved back should the start of the regular season be further delayed. Meanwhile, stadium capacities will be determined by each member institution in accordance with local and/or state health ordinances and working with government officials.
"“Opinions vary regarding the best path forward,” Bowlsby said, “as we’ve seen throughout higher education and our society overall, but we are comfortable in our institutions’ ability to provide a structured training environment, rigorous testing and surveillance, hospital quality sanitation and mitigation practices that optimize the health and safety of our student-athletes."
As for the regulations that will be upheld once the season begins, there are numerous safeguards the league has put in place. For instance, any player who tests positive for COVID-19 must undergo a cardiac MRI, an EKG, an echocardiogram, and a troponin (blood) test.
What’s more, players will be tested every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Also, prior to each game, each school’s athletic director and team physician must sign a statement saying that no player in uniform has tested positive for COVID-19 in the most recent round of testing.
Of course, it remains to be seen whether these protocols will be enough to keep hundreds of college kids from contracting the coronavirus given how unlikely it is that they will all refrain from fraternizing with their peers outside of their team’s training facility.
Fans can take some hope from the relative success Major League Baseball has had in conducting its season for nearly three weeks with only two major team outbreaks (the Miami Marlins and the St. Louis Cardinals) despite playing outside of a bubble where players are sequestered similar to what the NBA and NHL have done in their returns. However, those players are adults who have multi-million dollar contracts motivating them to practice the best social distancing guidelines. College football players will likely be far less mature and less motivated to follow the rules and that is a problem that there simply is no answer for.
In the end, we still aren’t assured of a season but knowing that Bowlsby and the Big 12 are committed to making one happen if at all possible is a huge step in the right direction. And the release of the revised 2020 schedule has to be seen as a positive development, albeit a small one (as the Big 10 released its revised schedule just days before deciding to cancel its fall season).
When you look at Texas Tech’s new order of games, it becomes clear that this is a more favorable setup than the original one. So let’s go inside the new Big 12 schedule and see why it’s more beneficial to Matt Wells’ team.