The Pac-12 announced on Friday that commissioner Larry Scott has tested positive for the coronavirus, but it sounds like he is doing OK.
The conference released a statement about the situation, saying Scott got tested after experiencing mild flu-like symptoms.
In one of the gloomiest days in recent college football memory, Troy Dannen, if he looks hard enough, can find the glass at least fractionally full. In these dark pandemic times, he’ll accept even a small trace of liquid lining the bottom of the cup.
As Tulane’s athletic director, he oversees one of the rare Group of Five programs to not have scheduled this season what’s termed as a “buy game” against a Power 5 school, where in which big brother writes a hefty check to little brother for what’s usually a beatdown. As college football moves closer and closer toward a season in which non-conference games won’t exist, Dannen, unlike many of his colleagues, is in the clear.
“Fortunately, we didn’t schedule one this year, so we’re not relying on it to balance our budget,” he says, and then reality sets in, “but we are relying on football games.”
Earlier this offseason, Jamal Adams formally requested a trade from the New York Jets. Despite him talking about the team in the past tense, the franchise has not wavered from trying to keep him on the team for the foreseeable future.
The Dallas Cowboys reportedly attempted to trade for Adams twice over the past two years, but nothing has come of it. Over the past few weeks, other teams have made inquiries about Adams’ availability as well.
Joe Burrow said he was gonna do it … and now he's doing it in a BIG way.
The Cincinnati Bengals QB — whose Heisman acceptance speech sparked more than $650k to his hometown's food pantry — is taking things to the next level … by starting a foundation to fight hunger and poverty in southeast Ohio.
Remember, TMZ Sports spoke with Burrow back in December (shortly after he accepted his Heisman) and he told us he was already planning on ways to use his platform to help.
You can come out, now, Roger!
In his continuing role as the NFL’s Neville Chamberlain — the British prime minister who appeased Nazi Germany until it was too late to prevent World War II — Roger Goodell continues to pander to the bad acts at the risk of imperiling the good and welfare — and value — of the NFL.
Goodell has proven he would rather offend the NFL’s most devoted, fair-minded fans than the league’s most offensive players.
What was Goodell’s position on Eagles receiver DeSean Jackson’s astonishingly stupid, historically fabricated, hateful posts about Jews plotting to enslave blacks — as per the thoughts of the considerable Louis Farrakhan extremist wing of Black Lives Matter?
We don’t know. Goodell didn’t have the courage to attach his name to an NFL “statement” condemning Jackson. The NFL’s “statement” seemed to have been dropped from a cloud. Read between the lines, Goodell may as well have said, “Leave me out of this.”
He has, however, eagerly attached his name to statements decrying anti-black racism.
If mirrored across the rest of the Bowl Subdivision, the decision made by the Big Ten to play only league opponents during the coming season will remove the non-conference games that help inform the national reputations of teams and conferences.
In the end, these sorts of marquee matchups can dictate where teams fall in the final College Football Playoff rankings, impacting the makeup of the national semifinals and New Year’s Six bowls.
“Clearly there will be challenges this year, and we will see what those challenges are and work through them,” College Football Playoff executive director Bill Hancock told USA TODAY Sports.
The Big Ten announced on Thursday that they will be playing a conference-only schedule for college football in the fall. Their announcement reportedly bothered other school administrators.
SI’s Ross Dellenger reported on Thursday that some administrators were “perturbed” by the conference’s announcement, describing it as covert.
Across the country, there are some perturbed administrators at the Big Ten's announcement, which many described as covert. There's a scheduled FBS commissioners meeting tomorrow. One source: "Why couldn't they have just waited and until then?" College football needs a czar.
The Big Ten has announced it will cancel all non-conference sporting events this fall and proceed with conference-only scheduling. It's a move many predicted and it is almost certain to force the rest of country to follow suit. Obviously this will have the biggest impact on college football.
It looks like the ACC is set to follow the Big Ten's lead and go with a conference-only slate, and the Pac-12 may not be far behind:
With a pandemic raging, this obviously makes sense. Theoretically it would cut down on travel and potentially either delay the start of the season — which usually features a few weeks of non-conference games — or give teams more time off during it.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians might be considered more pessimistic than others in NFL circles.
The Buccaneers leader on the sideline posited a sense of concern with respect to the coronavirus pandemic, adding he feels players are naturally going to get sick. But, as Arians stated, it is a matter of how sick, via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times.
“Tom is probably the healthiest one of all of us,” Arians said. “We’ve got to be careful. The players, they’re going to all get sick, that’s for sure. It’s just a matter of how sick they get.”
Of course, the obvious objective would be to limit potential exposure to illness, and especially COVID-19. But football is played in close proximity, and Arians sees to hint the incessant physical contact will inevitably result in players getting sick.
NFL training camps are set to get going around the league later this month. It’s been a long time coming for players after the entire off-season program was scrapped due to the ongoing pandemic.
Players will want to show out for their teams. That includes rookies in both Detroit and Tampa Bay. Meanwhile, youngsters with the Cardinals and Broncos are primed for big showings this summer.
Here’s a look at five NFL players set to surprise during training camp.
D’Andre Swift, running back, Detroit Lions
The Lions do have a young back in Kerryon Johnson who performed extremely well as a rookie back in 2018, averaging a robust 5.4 yards per rush. However, the Auburn product struggled to the tune of 3.6 yards per rush and missed eight games as a sophomore last season.
Enter into the equation record-setting former Georgia ball carrier D’Andre Swift. He was selected 35th overall by Detroit back in April. The 5-foot-8, 212-pound back recorded nearly 2,700 total yards with 21 touchdowns in his final two seasons with the Bulldogs. He’ll have an opportunity to show out once camp opens. Expect him to be a major story in Detroit.
Christian Kirk, wide receiver, Arizona Cardinals
More than any Cardinals player outside of Kyler Murray, this young receiver is going to benefit from Arizona’s acquisition of DeAndre Hopkins. Kirk, 23, is coming off a sophomore season that saw him record 68 receptions for 709 yards while catching 63% of his targets.
Now that Kirk is entrenched in as the Cardinals’ top slot receiver with Hopkins and Larry Fitzgerald outside, the sky seems to be the limit for this Texas A&M product. I am highly intrigued to see Kirk work his magic with Murray during training camp. It could be special.
