Both Florida head coach Dan Mullen and LSU head coach Ed Orgeron are hoping Wednesday brings more clarity on the status of their teams’ Saturday afternoon matchup.
This week, Florida reported multiple positive COVID-19 tests within its program, including two assistant coaches, Mullen said, putting the 2:30 p.m. kickoff in Gainesville, Fla. in doubt.
The Gators have paused all their football activities and Mullen said they are awaiting the results of a fourth-straight day of COVID-19 testing before making any determinations.
“I don’t want to speculate on where we are at,” Mullen said on Wednesday’s SEC Teleconference “Right now, I think we are taking an abundance of caution. We’re pausing all of our activities until we get today’s results.
“We came in and tested early this morning. We’re certainly hoping… to get this morning’s tests back before we conduct any team activity to make sure that were keeping everyone safe as possible.”
Orgeron said he’s hoping the game will proceed as scheduled but wouldn’t be surprised if it’s postponed similar to a scheduled matchup between Vanderbilt and Missouri, which was postponed until December after the Commodores reported positive coronavirus cases.
“Honestly, in 2020, it’s what we are dealing with,” Orgeron said. “I really think that the safety of the kids is the primary focus this week. If it’s safe for us to play we’re going to play and if the best thing is for us not to play we shouldn’t play.”
The Tigers have already faced an opponent that was affected by COVID-19 as a positive test from a Missouri player sidelined six others, including the Tigers leading receiver, due to contact tracing.
Orgeron said that in the meantime, LSU will continue to prepare to travel to Florida.
“There’s going to be a lot of doubt in our kids minds, I understand that, but we need to stay focused,” Oregon said. “We’ve been through this before, there was a lot of doubt this season that we weren’t going to play.
“I told the guys block out the noise. The only thing we can focus on right now is prepare to play and just wait too see what decision they make and if they tell us we’re playing, we’re going to be ready. If we’re not, we’re going to move on to South Carolina.”
