Florida athletics director Scott Stricklin delivered two bits of good news Thursday and took away some positives from the SEC’s decision on a 10-game, conference-only schedule in 2020.
Stricklin also expressed disappointment about losing the rivalry matchup at Florida State this season, and as did Seminoles AD David Coburn when he spoke to him.
“He didn't say a whole lot,” said Stricklin, who had a desire to play the Seminoles and tried to made his case this week. “Wish there was a way we could figure that out. But we’ll respect the decision we made as a league.
“It’s more about the calendar. With 10 conference games you have 11 Saturdays to play 10 games, so to play that 11th game you'd have to play 11 straight weeks with no open date.”
The good news from Sticklin is that the Gators’ additional league games won’t necessarily be their next two cross-division rotational opponents, which are Alabama (2021) and Texas A&M (2022).
“That was total speculation and spit-balling,” Stricklin said of the revised SEC schedule, which will be announced at a late date. “The league will probably look at the two crossover games you currently have and try to balance who the other two are going to be from a competitive standpoint as fairly as possible and try to create a sense of fairness in that process. I don’t know what that’s going to look like.
“If there’s any particular concerns, we’ll voice them once they show us the draft. But I’m confident we’ll be able to come up with something everybody feels good about.”
Stricklin also delivered some feel-good news regarding COVID-19, revealing that UF has no positive cases or athletes in quarantine at this time. That wasn’t the case earlier this month, when Stricklin said 26 tests came back positive among the 50 given to athletes who were exposed and/or exhibited symptoms after returning to campus.
“They’ve done a great job of doing what we’ve asked of them,” Stricklin said Thursday, “not only when they’re up here working out but when they’re off and when they have their free time.”
That’s an encouraging development, but the challenge will be keeping it up once students return for the fall semester on Aug. 31. Stricklin noted that the month of August through Labor Day could be “kind of rough in our region” with COVID-19 cases because of schools reintegrating, which is why the SEC moved kickoff to Sept. 26.
Stricklin has previously said that a bubble can’t be created in college athletics, yet we’ve seen that bubbles work best based on the results with the NBA, WNBA and MLS. He’s monitoring the MLB situation closely and wants to watch how the NFL season gets started.
“I think it would be wise for us to learn as much as we can from those other entities,” he said.
Florida isn't able to maintain a bubble when classes start, but what steps can be taken to sequester players from a significantly-reduced student body? Stricklin said the campus is going to great lengths with more online classes and COVID-19 protocols, and that sports will create a “semi-bubble” by nature.
“Guys tend to hang around each other. They’re around each other in competition, practice and everything else,” Stricklin said. “You already kind of get that piece of it.”
That will be amplified when Dan Mullen’s team stays in a hotel for the entire training camp, but Stricklin said that setup can’t be extended into the season. It’s on the athletes to continue socially distancing once they exit the facilities.
“The bubble is our campus and that’s only going to be as good as the decision that each individual makes,” Stricklin said. “Beyond that, I don’t know if we’re going to be able to do anything extraordinary from a bubble standpoint.
“It’s going to be up to the players helping us create it. Because we’re not going to put them in a hotel. But hey, our guys have done a great job just in the time they’ve been back here for the workouts that they’ve had up to this point.”
Another positive for Stricklin is that UF now has a start date to work toward, which he said is healthy for the team's state of mind. The SEC will still have two divisions and each team plays five times at home, he added. The Gators will get four road trips and the Florida-Georgia game, which Stricklin said he and UGA athletics director Greg McGarity want to keep in Jacksonville this season.
“Playing 10 SEC games is going to be unique and different,” Stricklin said. “Dan’s a competitor, as you guys know. He’s never seemed to shy away from competition and playing 10 SEC games is going to be a challenge. If you’re a competitor, that’s probably not anything that worries you. I think he’ll be excited.”
