College Football News and Notes: Oklahoma, OSU Players Test Positive

With the NFL and MLB dominating most of the headlines in the sports world these days, we can’t forget that the NCAA is trying to put together a college football season this fall. Let’s check out everything going on this week in the college football world.

In the Sooner State

With players starting to return to campus for summer workers, the University of Oklahoma has announced that 14 of its football players have tested positive for COVID-19. Of the 111 football players who were tested on Monday, there were seven positive tests, added to seven previous positive tests.

Oklahoma’s announcement comes just a few days after Oklahoma State announced that 14 of its football players have also tested positive for COVID-19.

Of course, the likes of LSU, Clemson, Alabama, and others have reported that more than a dozen players have had to be quarantined after testing positive. Meanwhile, Arizona put a pause on student-athletes returning to campus because of the surge of cases in the state.

See You in the Spring?

With the pandemic not going away and seemingly picking up in some places, the idea of delaying the college football season until the spring has been mentioned as a possibility. The Ivy League, in particular, is weighing that as one of its options.

However, Penn State athletic director Sandy Barbour this week called a spring football season a “last resort.” Barbour says the idea was discussed as early as March.

However, a spring season would force changes to the 2021 season. Barbour also admits that there is growing pessimism among the decision-makers in college athletics because of the quick spread of the virus over the past two weeks. However, he says ADs and the NCAA are still considering multiple scenarios and staying focused on health and safety when making decisions.

Doesn’t Cost Everything

After a month-long investigation into allegations of racism, Utah has announced that defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley won’t be fired. However, he will be disciplined in the form of a pay cut from $1.1 million to $525,000.

Utah has also removed Scalley as the head coach in waiting. During the investigation, Scalley admitted to using a racist slur in a 2013 text message. Scalley has been a part of the Utah football program as either a player, staffer, or coach since 2001, outside of the 2005 season.

Stick Around

Over the past week, both Ball State and Louisiana-Monroe have announced contract extensions with their head coaches. Ball State’s Mike Neu has received a two-year extension despite going 15-33 in his first four seasons and never finishing better than last year’s 5-7.

Louisiana-Monroe head coach Matt Viator is also receiving a two-year extension despite a 19-29 record in his first four seasons.

Rebuilding Hogs

New Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman is trying to rebuild the Razorbacks as quickly as possible, and he’s doing it via the transfer portal. This week, Arkansas welcomed Oklahoma transfer Jaquayin Crawford.

The wide receiver was a four-star recruit but played in just one game with the Sooners in two seasons. He’ll have to sit out the 2020 season and have two years of eligibility left.

Nevertheless, he becomes the sixth transfer Arkansas has added this offseason, including former Florida quarterback Feleipe Franks.