Should a program forfeit a game due to COVID-19 excessive positive testing?

This I am sure has been brought up.
There are has been some consequences in pro sports already.
https://www.newsbreak.com/news/1613235263673/champions-league-match-forfeited-after-positive-covid-19-tests
Granted the ncaa members are not pro teams.
There are also legal questions that will come into play. I tried but I can’t find any NCAA info regarding a possible forfeit due to excessive positive numbers.
Should not programs that have full control of their squad be rewarded?

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Let’s ask the real question here – why does it matter? If the Baylor-UH game is recorded as a win in the UH record books rather than a cancellation, what happens? Will poll voters or the CFP treat that differently than they would an otherwise-cancelled game? Probably not. Does it have any impact on a conference title race? No. It has an outside chance of affecting bowl eligibility, but that’s it.

The reason that the CL match had to be forfeited rather than cancelled was because further rounds of the competition were dependent on a result from that match. They can’t just reschedule because that pushes back the draw date for the group stage, and then all of a sudden everything else is delayed. That’s not true of UH-Baylor or UH-Rice, and the AAC Championship Game won’t be affected by delaying UH-Memphis.

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The real question becomes conference championship manipulation…so for instance let’s say smu and houston have a scheduled game…but the only way for UH to get to the title game is to beat smu…and smu “fakes a covid issue” to avoid playing the game thereby assuring themselves advance to to the title game…

They should. I had us beating Baylor 45 to 41 so we’re 1 and 0

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Yes, it should. Baylor lost control of their players/program and were the reason there was not a game. Maybe they really didn’t have enough guys at a position, maybe they did and didn’t want to play short handed. Either way it should be listed as a forfeit. If we can’t reschedule Memphis, that should be a forfeit for them too.

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I noticed Memphis’ game this weekend is also canceled. I am curious as to whether BU plays Kansas this week or not. I have a feeling they will play, since it was trace contact and not full on positives. That alone will give people speculation on if the reason to cancel on us was justified.

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Yes Giena, the Rhoades interview is fairly clear. baylor expects to play against Kansas.

Yes.
Those are the breaks.

The rules are made up and the points don’t matter. Even if someone wins a trophy this year, they’ll do it all over again next year. I just want to watch football because I like watching football.

If Tune goes to the gas station, follows safe distance protocols, but someone walks near him and coughs. Then he goes to practice and is near 2/3 of the offensive line and the other QBs before he pops a positive test. No - UH should not forfeit as they would still be doing proper efforts to be safe. It is a highly contagious virus, and even with doing proper steps, people will get sick.

Same for other schools doing proper testing. Stuff happens. It would suck if a team said they were playing because they did not want a forfeit on their record. Showed up and got the other team sick too.

Baylor now, Big 12 guidelines I think said positive test for the unit, not contact tracing potential. They can have a forfeit on their record.

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Baylor had to cancel because they also had suspended players. Complete lack of control over there.

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Clearly some schools have no control of their students athletes.
According to duarte we were the worst program on the planet. Now we seem to have COVID-19 under control. Why can’t other schools do the same? Drastic times means taking drastic actions.
What is stopping these schools to do the same? I understand we are dealing with an age group of 18 to 22 years old. 90%+ of these athletes won’t get the chance to play pro. Can’t you make this commitment for the scholarship that was given to you?

It doesn’t really matter for OOC games either way. For conference games I think it should count as a forfeit but maybe have a panel or something to present the case why the cancellation was justified. If a program and its players are doing everything right and just gets unlucky then you don’t get a loss.

Booking a party bus definitely wouldn’t pass so we should get a dub and Memphis should get an L for that.

Baylor wouldn’t get a pass either because they could have played if not for the suspended player, but again it doesn’t really change anything for OOC anyways because it’s not like the committee or pollsters will really take it into account.

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I wonder if we start seeing some crawfishing from these folks…

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ALL big12 schools will play against Kansas…even Baylor !

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No. If your team is in contention and has a COVID outbreak (or through contact tracing), there will be financial incentives to cover up the results and then expose the opponent to an outbreak.

It’s not like the players purposefully contracted the virus. You punish a team for things they or their boosters control (recruiting payments unless you are LSU, academic cheating unless you are UNC, etc)

This one didn’t age well

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Funny…I didn’t realize the OP was from the Baylor game cancellation.

And I believe UT-KU was cancelled for this weekend…

no. not this year

I haven’t changed my overall thought but might shift the burden of proof based on how the season has played out.

If you had to cancel/postpone due to normal circumstances then it’s not a forfeit. If you had to cancel because a good portion of your team completely disregarded COVID protocols, like Memphis, then it should be a forfeit. If we’re missing the game on Saturday due to 30-40 of our players going to a party or something then I’d think it’s fair for us to have to forfeit.

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