Is South Carolina football in danger of postponing game 4?
South Carolina is coming off of a 41-7 shellacking of SEC eastern division foe Vanderbilt, easily the best performance for the Gamecocks on the young season. But could they be in danger of having that momentum halted ahead of their week four matchup with the Auburn Tigers?
This season has already had its fair share of alterations due to the Coronavirus pandemic, which caused the SEC to move to league-only scheduling, a ten-game slate, and a delayed season start. Now, the conference has its first in-season issue with virus.
Following last Saturday’s game, a number of Vanderbilt players have tested positive for COVID. 247Sports reporter Brandon Marcello had this to say about the developing situation in Nashville.
I'm told Vanderbilt has around 50 scholarship players (and "moving down," a source says) who are not sick or quarantined due to contact tracing.#Vandy had 56 scholarship players available Saturday. #SEC minimum to play a game in COVID-19 pandemic is 53 scholarship players.
— Brandon Marcello (@bmarcello) October 12, 2020
The Commodores were already short-handed in the matchup last week, and now it looks as though they won’t have enough players to compete in their next contest.
What does it mean for South Carolina football, who’s just three days removed from competition with Vanderbilt?
South Carolina athletics released a statement yesterday detailing their protocol and upcoming testing process.
"“Our athletics training staff has been notified by Vanderbilt, per SEC protocols, that no players on the Gamecock football team were identified as being a close contact that would result in quarantine. A close contact is identified as someone who is within six feet of an infected person for at least 15 cumulative minutes. We will continue to test our players as normal SEC protocols – three times each week.”"
At this time, no South Carolina players have been identified as testing positive, but it will be something to keep an eye on moving forward throughout the week.
The Gamecocks are scheduled to play Auburn this coming Saturday at noon, and, for now, it appears that the game will go on as planned, which is good news for a South Carolina team trying to build confidence off of their victory last week.