This dangerously divided world we live in right now showed itself in college football as the season got under way, typically, in some places and, sadly, with different rules for different rulers.
I watched the first half of the Carolina-Syracuse game from Kenan, anxious to find out just how weird it would be. In in that respect, it didn’t disappoint.
One half-hour before kickoff, I rode the two miles to the stadium, and it seemed like a typical Sunday drive on a dreary day. Very little traffic and easy access to the Rams Deck, where I showed my pass to the masked men out front and pulled into a space right in front of me.
Easier walk to the stadium, where it was clear only a privileged few would gain access to the game. I saw a casual couple, both wearing masks, heading for the elevator to the press box and wondered, “Ha, someone is sneaking in.” It turned out to be Athletics Director Bubba Cunningham and his mother in sports garb they would never wear if anyone had to be impressed.
Awaiting were nothing but 50,500 empty seats, with the 100 cardboard faces in one lower corner section almost invisible due to everything being so blue. There was Tony Gilliam public addressing to absolutely no one with all of his calls surrounded by canned cheers, music and chants of “First Down, Tar HEELS!”
When quarterback Sam Howell drove the Heels to a touchdown on their first possession, it was the same old, same old without any of the really old. Howell didn’t do much compared to his sterling freshman fling, although he wound up throwing for 295 yards, the most for a UNC season opener since T.J. Yates’ epic 410 against LSU in 2010.
The home sideline was strangely arranged, with a U-shape configuration of folding chairs for the defense pretty far back from the playing field at about the 30-yard line. On the other 30, the offensive chairs we spaciously arranged like those of ill-fated classrooms on campus before UNC went back to remote learning. On the field, however, social distancing became violent hitting.
After Carolina blew open what was a 7-3 game at halftime, the biggest take-away was just how fast Mack Brown’s second team of his second stint is. Michael Carter looks like a bullet train carrying and catching the ball or returning kickoffs. Fellow All-ACC preseason first-teamer Dazz Newsome (he and Carter joining Chazz Surratt) is lethal anytime he returns a punt, except for the one he left behind on the grass. These stars appear much faster, and they have a supporting cast some of whom can keep up almost step for step.
Surratt, the second former Parade All-American quarterback (after Deems May) that Brown turned into a star and future pro at another position, once again led the defense with nine tackles and assorted other hurries and hits. And the Fox brothers, Tomari and Tomon, made three of the seven total team sacks.
By the time Carter set up Javonte Williams for his three short TD bursts, I was home watching the “thems” do it almost completely differently on TV. I’ll give Notre Dame a pass in its home game with Duke for allowing students, faculty and staff in the stands, since Indiana has always been one of the lowest COVID states and everyone in the stadium, including both sidelines, were fully covered in leprechaun green.
But the other games on in “redder states” not only had their stadiums half-filled with clusters and bunches not wearing masks, while most of the coaches and players on the sidelines kept theirs around their necks like Texicana bandanas. The players came off the field after big moments acting like COVID is something only dirty Democrats and looney liberals worry about (pretty close to true).
But the virus knows no political or state bounds, as Virginia Tech learned by having to postpone a second game before playing its first. And thanks to the Hokies now postponing next Saturday’s game with Virginia as they did this Saturday’s game with N.C. State, the Cavaliers won’t be playing until October 3 since they already lost the opening day date with William & Mary, whose every opponent on the schedule is followed by a TBA.
Perhaps not coincidentally, it was reported Saturday that if more than eight schools throw in the towel for the remainder of the season, the ACC Board of Directors can cancel the rest of the schedule and try again next year. It will be interesting to see what test results come out of the first league games, as teams like Memphis already went into quarantine when a “significant number” of players tested positive after their first game.
Meanwhile, the Big Ten is revealing a new testing protocol with the hope that its presidents will reverse their decision and allow schools to start playing in October. The nation’s oldest college conference might be wise to wait for more data on the “usses” versus “thems” before making another move that could further affect the electoral college outcomes in their swing states.
Such is life in this weird world of today.
Photo via ACC Media.
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