Big 12 football teams with COVID problems may have to forfeit games this season
Big 12 football teams can’t and won’t require their players to get COVID vaccinations ahead of the upcoming 2021 season, but the conference is expected to implement at least one potential penalty that might convince a few holdouts to go ahead and get the shot.
How does forfeiting a football game sound?
Unlike last season, when college football teams across the country canceled and postponed games because of COVID outbreaks within their rosters on a weekly basis, the expectation is for every Big 12 game to be played as originally scheduled this year.
In the event that a team is suffering from COVID issues and doesn’t have enough healthy players to take the field, that team will be expected to forfeit, according to Kansas State athletic director Gene Taylor.
“We are probably not going to have the ability to not play games this season,” Taylor said Wednesday at Big 12 Media Days at AT&T Stadium. “If you don’t play it on time, you will have to forfeit. We haven’t finalized that yet as a league, but that is where our thinking is at as athletic directors. We don’t have room. Last year, we had breaks in our schedule on purpose. This year, we won’t have the ability to make up those games.”
K-State dealt with player absences nearly every week last season but forged ahead and played all 10 of its games as originally scheduled. But other teams across the conference weren’t so lucky. Baylor, Kansas and Texas all lost games because of COVID issues, and many other teams had to move games around on their schedules to make sure they got played.
Games that weren’t played were deemed a “no contest.”
Many are hopeful that those types of disruptions are a thing of the past, but COVID cases have been climbing recently.
The North Carolina State baseball team was forced to withdraw from the College World Series, because of a COVID outbreak on its team. The same thing could happen to a football team in the fall in the form of a forfeited game.
Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby said some sort of COVID testing will continue for unvaccinated players this season. But he said the conference is doing everything it can to encourage players to get vaccinated, saying that not doing so is like “rolling the dice” on whether you can play on Saturdays.
“Frankly, anyone not getting vaccinated is taking unnecessary risks,” Bowlsby said. “And that’s not just our student-athletes, it’s anybody in our society.”
K-State football coach Chris Klieman said on Wednesday that nearly 80% of the Wildcats’ football team is fully vaccinated. Taylor said that number has climbed up from 70% at the start of June.
The goal in Manhattan is for K-State to reach closer to 90% by the time games begin in September.
Taylor is urging as many players as possible to protect themselves against COVID before the season arrives. If nothing else, it will greatly reduce their team’s risk of a forfeit.