Here’s the Power 5’s tentative plan for universal COVID-19 testing this fall

Universal testing protocols in the Power 5 are huge for college football.

We should applaud the Power 5 for getting out ahead of this to help give us college football.

While the NCAA has buried its head in the sand, the Power 5 will reportedly implement its own universal testing protocol to combat and contain the spread of the coronavirus. Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated reports the Power 5 conferences are in the process of coming up with how all 65 members, including the national independent Notre Dame Fighting Irish, will handle COVID-19.

Dellenger writes ,”college football players who test positive for COVID-19 this fall will be required to miss at least 10 days of competition, and that number is even higher—a full two weeks—for those who are found to have had contact with a person who tested positive.”

He wrote that Sports Illustrated obtained the six-page document of the draft for what the Power 5 is planning to do. The Big Ten and Pac-12 have opted to go conference-only, while Notre Dame is expected to join the ACC should the other three Power 5 conferences echo their sentiment. Universal testing protocols may allow the ACC, Big 12 and SEC to play games out-of-conference.

Does universal COVID-19 testing mean we get those ACC/SEC rivalry games?

While we should anticipate a shortened season in some capacity, assuming we have one, we could be looking at nine-game conference schedules for the Power 5, as well as a plus-one between ACC, Big 12 and SEC schools. The significance of this is the in-state rivals that exist between four SEC East teams and their ACC counterparts.

Assuming the plus-one initiative is allowed to happen, teams like the Florida Gators can play the Florida State Seminoles without any hesitation, as testing protocols between the ACC and the SEC would be universal. This also affords potential non-conference matchups like the ACC’s North Carolina Tar Heels and the SEC’s Auburn Tigers to still happen on Sept. 12 at neutral-site Atlanta.

Other protocols reportedly in place per Dellenger include, “college teams will be required to test football players within 72 hours of games using the standard PCR test” and “those who test positive 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”, among several other important things.

What this universal protocol is really telling us more than anything is that the 65 Power 5 schools will eventually govern themselves separately from the NCAA, at least on the college football field. Dellenger added the Group of 5 conferences (AAC, Conference-USA, MAC, Mountain West, Sun Belt) are planning to implement their own universal testing protocols as well to combat COVID-19.

With everyone being on the same page, it increases the odds of Power 5 college football this fall.

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