UVA delayed trip to Tallahassee until Friday night to assure it had only healthy players

By Jerry Ratcliffe

We learned that Virginia delayed its flight to Tallahassee until Friday night and we believe we know why.

According to sources in Virginia and Texas, the Cavaliers found out this week that their players had been exposed to the COVID-19 virus from the Abilene Christian game in Charlottesville last Saturday. Sources said that at least a dozen and maybe up to 20 Abilene players had tested positive for the virus.

It would only make sense that because Virginia has adhered so tightly to Covid protocols that it would be proactive in making sure it traveled no infected players to Tallahassee, thusly delaying its trip until it was sure.

Florida State caused a huge controversy last week when it called off its home game with Clemson just hours before the game was supposed to start. The FSU medical team decided it wasn’t safe for the Seminoles to play the game because Clemson had traveled with one player who had tested positive. The Tigers had flown to Tallahassee before the infected player had learned that he had tested positive.

However, after Virginia did the right thing by going to great lengths to make sure it was taking only healthy players to Tallahassee, Florida State called off Saturday night’s game.

FSU said it had only 44 scholarship players for the game, with some position groups depleted almost entirely due to either positive tests or contact tracing. It seems as if Florida State could have administered its tests earlier prior to Virginia making its trip to Tallahassee, preventing the Cavaliers all the time and expense for nothing.

“Our team underwent the mandated third-party testing [Friday] and learned late [Friday night] that we had one positive test,” FSU athletic director David Coburn said in a released statement. “Contact tracing [Saturday] morning determined that, with opt-outs and injuries, we had just 44 scholarship players for the game, with some position groups depleted almost entirely.

“We deeply regret that many Florida State and Virginia fans have already traveled to the game as well as Virginia’s team. We simply had no way of knowing we would not be playing until [Saturday] morning. We made every effort to play, but we could not do so in a way that was safe for the players.”

Wouldn’t it have made sense during these virus-plagued times, particularly only days after postponing a previous home game, to not put one’s self in a position to have back-to-back postponements? Not only that, but in days when athletic departments are bleeding money, that you not cause opposing teams to spend bundles on travel expenses that they can’t get back?

Why couldn’t Florida State have had the foresight to conduct its tests in a more timely manner as Virginia did in order to be sure?

We don’t know if Virginia had players test positive after Abilene, but it follows logic that it did, but made the extra effort to take only healthy players to Tallahassee so the game could be played.

If the Cavaliers want to play the FSU game, they’ll now likely have to wait until Dec. 19, the same day as the ACC Championship game, because FSU will probably have to play the make-up game with Clemson on Dec. 12.

Florida State is scheduled to play at Duke on Dec. 5, but that game is automatically in jeopardy because of the Seminoles’ virus situation. With only 44 scholarship players available, combined with the mandatory 14-day quarantine period connected to contract tracing, how could FSU possibly be healthy enough to play Duke?

At least UVA didn’t have to spend the entire day in Tallahassee awaiting a game that wouldn’t be played. The contest was scheduled for 8 p.m. on Saturday night.

Asked about that possibility earlier in the week, Mendenhall had this to say:

“It would be very difficult to understand, knowing that contact tracing is part of what’s happening now. Positive tests are what’s happening and we’re taking extra players in the event that happens. So once you’ve already arrived in that particular location, and you’ve mitigated as many as possible of the circumstances that might affect you not playing, it’s hard to imagine then what is a deal breaker, but it would be a challenge to be there with your team and then to be sent home.”

Mendenhall found out that as much as Virginia did to mitigate circumstances that FSU’s decision not to test early enough to postpone the game before UVA left Charlottesville was a deal breaker that didn’t need to happen.

The Virginia coach also noted that the athletic department has permitted the Cavaliers to take extreme measures to stay safe while traveling. Instead of taking six buses from the airport to hotels, then stadiums, UVA takes 11 to adhere to social distancing protocols. Virginia books extra hotel rooms to keep players and staff safer.

That’s extra expenditures for Virginia’s athletic budget, which has been hit hard by the pandemic.

Florida State lost an estimated $2 million by calling off Saturday night’s game. FSU officials estimated that 14,000 tickets had been sold for the game. That came on the heels of another estimated $2 million loss the week before by postponing the Clemson game.

Unlike Virginia, where only 250 fans could attend the Abilene game last week due to governor orders, Florida State allows its stadium 25 percent capacity.

Clemson and UVA will lose money on the deal even if both schools manage to eventually play the games at FSU because that will be the expense of two trips each for only one game.