The Sun Belt Conference releases 2020 football plan. How it impacts Coastal Carolina
The Sun Belt Conference on Tuesday announced an incomplete plan for the 2020 football season. The decision, for now, has not impacted Coastal Carolina’s existing schedule. But that could change.
The Sun Belt will allow its schools to begin the season on the first weekend in September, and is permitting a full slate of eight conference games and four non-conference games in a season made tenuous by the coronavirus pandemic.
But the Sun Belt has not committed to hold its conference games on the back end of the schedule as they are currently and traditionally set, and has left the dates of the conference games ambiguous, making it impossible for its member schools to schedule non-conference games with the certainty that the dates will be open.
CCU Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations Kevin Davis said Coastal’s 11 remaining scheduled games will not be altered unless a further decision by the Sun Belt, or decisions by scheduled opponents or their conferences, dictate a change.
The Chanticleers were scheduled to begin the season on Sept. 5 at South Carolina, but that game was canceled last week when the Southeastern Conference canceled all non-conference games. Davis said CCU is seeking an opponent to replace the Gamecocks.
It may soon be looking for more replacements.
Coastal still has three non-conference games scheduled and the eight Sun Belt games, which were originally scheduled to be played in succession over the final nine weeks of the season – including an off week – beginning Oct. 3.
The Chants are scheduled to play at Eastern Michigan of the Mid-American Conference on Sept. 12; host Football Championship Subdivision program Duquesne of the Northeast Conference on Sept. 19 at Brooks Stadium; and host Kansas of the Big 12 on Sept. 26.
At least the Kansas and Duquesne games are uncertain as schools and conferences continue to maneuver through COVID-19 impacts.
Kansas’ visit would have been the first to Brooks Stadium by a member of a Power Five conference in CCU’s football history.
But the Big 12 announced Monday night that it will play a 10-game schedule consisting of nine conference games and one home non-conference game.
The Chants and Jayhawks are scheduled to meet next year in Lawrence, Kansas, so if the teams were to play this year it would likely result in the schools trading home games.
CCU is Kansas’ only road opponent among its three scheduled non-conference games, as the Jayhawks were scheduled to host FCS program Southern Illinois of the Missouri Valley Football Conference on Aug. 29 and Boston College of the ACC on Sept. 19.
Like the Big 12, the ACC is allowing one non-conference game, but it must be played in the home state of the ACC school, so that seems to rule BC off Kansas’ schedule. The Big 12 added that it anticipates a start to league games sometime between mid- and late-September, with the expectation that non-conference contests are played prior to those.
“We are working with the Big 12 Conference on an updated 2020 football schedule and will share that publicly when it is finalized,” Kansas Associate AD for Public Relations Dan Beckler said in an email to The Sun News.
The Duquesne game may be in jeopardy. The NEC announced last week the indefinite suspension of all fall athletic competitions, leaving the Dukes presently without a conference schedule to play.
The NEC is allowing its football teams to play at their discretion, and according to Pittsburgh Sports Now, Duquesne is considering attempting to play the season as an independent.
“Our focus is to try to preserve a competitive season this academic year for our student athletes, but only when that can be done with the proper health and safety conditions in place. That will be dictated by multiple entities,” Duquesne athletics director Dave Harper said after the NEC’s decision.
The Sun Belt Conference had previously only pushed the start of fall sports back to Sept. 3, which didn’t impact football.
The Group of Five conferences in the Football Bowl Subdivision — the Sun Belt, American Athletic, Conference USA, Mid-American and Mountain West — have yet to restrict their football teams from playing a full 12-game schedule.
But games against schools from the Power Five conferences will be scarce, as the ACC and Big 12 have restrictions on their one allowed non-conference game per school, the the SEC, Big 10 and Pac-12 will not play any non-conference games.
Eastern Michigan has already lost two games against SEC foes Kentucky and Missouri that were scheduled for Sept. 3 and Sept. 26
“As things stand today, we are still planning to play our two remaining non-conference football games against Coastal Carolina and Army West Point,” EMU Vice President/Director of Athletics Scott Wetherbee said on Tuesday. “Obviously, things can still change, as we continue to listen to the guidance of the state of Michigan, the NCAA, the Mid-American Conference, and EMU’s Public Health Work Group.”
The Chants may try to replace any lost games with teams who have been similarly displaced.
“It might not be the original schedule, but there might be teams that are around us that we can pick up and fill a schedule until we get to Sun Belt games,” CCU coach Jamey Chadwell said last week. “I think all options right now are on the table.”
The Chanticleers were contracted to receive $1.4 million from South Carolina for the season-opener, and language in the contract suggests the two universities may squabble over the terms if USC does not offer some sort of payment.
CCU is contracted to pay Duquesne $300,000, according to Davis.
CCU football players began returning to campus in waves on June 8 for volunteer workouts and are scheduled to begin fall preseason camp Friday. They are in the midst of a two-week enhanced training period through Thursday that is new this year and allows athletes to spend up to 20 hours on coach-supervised non-contact activities including weight training, conditioning, film review, walk-through practices and meetings.
The team is going through its activities with protocols designed to avoid the spread of the coronavirus, including wearing masks indoors, temperature checks and social distancing.
The Sun Belt Conference said in a release Tuesday that it will continue to monitor health trends across its schools’ communities. Sun Belt presidents and chancellors, athletics directors, the COVID-19 Advisory Panel, and medical advisors will continue to review data to ensure a safe return to activities and competition. The data review will cross seven states and 12 counties and include, among other things, infection rates, hospitalization rates, local health directives, advancements in COVID-19 testing, and campus, department and team health trends.
The Sun Belt championship game between the East and West division winners is scheduled for Dec. 5, and the league is open to changing the date if necessary.
CCU’S 2020 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
Sept. 5 at South Carolina (canceled)
Sept. 12 at Eastern Michigan
Sept. 19 vs. Duquesne
Sept. 26 vs. Kansas
Oct. 3 vs. Arkansas State
Oct. 17 at Louisiana
Oct. 24 vs. Georgia Southern
Oct. 29 at Georgia State
Nov. 7 vs. South Alabama
Nov. 14 at Troy
Nov. 21 vs. Appalachian State
Nov. 28 at Texas State
This story was originally published August 4, 2020 at 11:35 AM.
