BREAKING: Florida Gators vs. Missouri Tigers Rescheduled, Part of Massive SEC Schedule Change
The No. 10 Florida Gators have had their second game of the 2020 season rescheduled following an outbreak of positive COVID-19 test among Florida football players.
Per a release by the Southeastern Conference and the University of Florida Athletic Association, the Gators game versus the Missouri Tigers, originally scheduled for October 24, will now be played on October 31. It's part of a massive restructuring of the SEC schedule given a variety of COVID related shutdowns.
(See full changed SEC schedule at the bottom)
This means the Gators will now have two straight bye weeks (tomorrow and next week) but will not have a bye before facing the No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs on November 7.
The release, in full, reads as follows:
"The Southeastern Conference announced today that due to an extended pause of team activities for the Florida football program at the advice of health officials, the Missouri at Florida game, originally scheduled for Oct. 24, is rescheduled to Oct. 31 and will be televised on the SEC Network Alternate channel at 7:30 pm ET.
Earlier in the week on Wednesday, it was announced that, due to positive tests and quarantine in the Florida football program, the LSU at Florida game of Oct. 17 was rescheduled to Dec. 12. The kick time and network will be determined at a later date. Tickets and parking purchased for the original Oct.17 and the Oct. 24 dates will remain valid for the rescheduled games, and ticket holders do not need to take further action. For more information regarding tickets, please visit FloridaGators.com or contact the ticket office atticketoffice@gators.ufl.edu. The Gators continue to work alongside the experts at UF Health to promote a culture of safety for the student-athletes, staff, and fans. For more information regarding safety protocols and COVID-19 updates, please follow this link."
On Wednesday, Athletic Director Scott Stricklin met with media to outline the timeline of the outbreak and discuss the repercussions. During that time, GatorBait's Kassidy Hill asked him how flexible the remainder of the schedule would need to be to accommodate further changes.
"Yeah, the scheduling question is probably best directed towards the conference office. We're gonna do whatever we can obviously to be supportive and be flexible and, you know, we have an open date on October 31st, and now we're putting a game on December 12th and we'll use every available weekend when we're - assuming we get on the other side of this - we're able to be willing to play. I think the league has had pretty good camaraderie as far as understanding this is not going to be normal and everyone is gonna have to be flexible if we want to try to get a season in for everybody."
Part of the need for that flexibility is due to the quarantine rules for infected players and those identified through contact tracing. Stricklin explained those rules as well.
"As I understand it, from just being involved in all this for several months, a positive case is - I believe it's 10 days, is CDC guidance, from the day the symptoms first start exhibiting, as far as isolation, and then, those in close-contact, who are quarantined through tracing, is 14 days from their last exposure. Somebody who has a CDC site up can fact check me there."
Given those perimeters, there feasibly wasn't enough time to safely prepare for the Missouri game on October 24.
SEC Football Schedule Adjustments:
Kentucky at Missouri moves from Oct. 31 to Oct. 24 at 4 pm ET/3 pm CT on SEC Network
South Carolina at LSU remains on Oct. 24, changes game time to 7 pm ET/6 pm CT on ESPN
Georgia at Kentucky moves from Oct. 24 to Oct. 31 at Noon ET/11 am CT on SEC Network
Missouri at Florida moves from Oct. 24 to Oct. 31 at 7:30 ET/6:30 CT on SEC Network Alternate
Vanderbilt at Missouri moves from Oct. 17 to Dec. 12, time and network TBA
LSU at Florida moves from Oct. 17 to Dec. 12, time and network TBA
Read full SEC release here.
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