The Dashboard: Sankey, league presidents must trust THEIR experts

With the walls appearing to be crumbling around the sport of college football, the game needs a hero more than ever.

Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey, league presidents and chancellors, you can be those heroes.

With reports that the Big Ten is preparing to pull the plug on its season and will ask its fellow Power 5 conferences to do the same, the chances of a fall football season suddenly appear dicey.

But let us not get hasty. Mr. Sankey, league presidents and chancellors, do not be afraid to tell the Big Ten no thanks.

Last Friday, the SEC’s Return to Activity and Medical Guidance Task Force laid out a rather extensive list of protocols, that if followed, would allow for the safe return of football in 2020.

Headed up by UGA Associate Athletic Director for Sports Medicine Ron Courson, one of the nation’s most respected figures in his field, the committee came up with a plan that would allow for football to be played, despite what may be the worst pandemic to ever hit the United States.

We could end this column right now by saying that is good enough for us. If Ron Courson says play ball, then play ball.

His group is the reason the SEC announced it was going to a 10-game conference only slate, resulting in the league adding two divisional crossover teams to the schedules of the 14 conference members on Friday.

So, what apparently changed over the weekend?

Clay Travis, of whom I am not particularly a huge fan, actually summed it up well in his column on Outkick.com.

In a nutshell, Travis wrote how certain university presidents and chancellors are not actually mitigating the risk to student-athletes by shutting down sports, but rather are increasing the risk as players would be sent home to fend for themselves, away from testing and immediate treatment. He goes on the write how they are not making athletes safer, they are making their own jobs safer by shifting the risk elsewhere. Athletes can catch the virus anywhere, not just on campus, and likely will.

Kirby Smart would seem to agree.

Back in March, Smart made the statement that he felt players were safer and more secure being on campus with team medical professionals as opposed to being at home.

Athletic director Greg McGarity has stated that there is an obligation to try and play – as long as it can be done in a safe manner. Courson and the return-to-play committee obviously agree as evident in the safety and testing protocols released on Friday.

Bulldog athletes, at least from what we have been told, want to play. According to Courson, not a single player at Georgia has opted out.

We are also starting to see athletes from all over the country take to social media appealing to the powers that be to let them play. Sunday, Bulldog Monty Rice joined Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence and Ohio State’s Justin Fields by sending out tweets imploring the folks in charge to not yank the season out from under them.

After midnight on Sunday, a fledgling players union concept was being shared on social media by loads of top players.

We will stop right now by saying, yes, Covid is a serious disease. Nobody is taking it lightly or brushing it off as some media-driven scare. I have, unfortunately, known some folks to get extremely sick, I even had a friend die who was in otherwise great shape before he caught the disease.

Heck, I am 55. Not exactly a spring chicken if you know what I mean.

But let us not bail on college football. Other sports are finding a way.

While keeping players in bubbles like some are doing on the professional level has been suggested by fans, that cannot happen once school gets back in session and players starting mingling with their classmates.

However, the Return to Play Committee no doubt took all this into account when it laid out its protocols, so as long people are smart.

Will there be issues? Will players come down with Covid during the season? Yes, that will happen.

But you can also catch the disease going to the grocery store. The canceling of the season doesn't automatically make the players safer. We have to avoid that prison of two ideas.

The point is, canceling college football is unfortunately not going to make Covid-19 go away. Being intelligent on how you go about your daily lives will, including wearing a mask and social distancing.

So, the answer for is simple.

Do you give in and follow the lead of the Big Ten, or do you follow the advice of the experts you tasked in the Return to Play Committee to find a way?

If the committee says it isn't safe to play, then so be it. But assuming you honestly believe your experts, the question of whether there will be football in the SEC should already have its answer.

Play ball.