Any worry about a repeated parade of postponements and cancellations like this past spring was eliminated with one move by the Colonial Athletic Association on Wednesday.
The league announced any conference game that cannot be played because of coronavirus-related issues would be considered a forfeit by the cancelling team. That team would take a loss in the conference standings and the opposing squad would be awarded a win in the CAA.
“The reality of the situation that we’re facing is two-fold,” CAA commissioner Joe D’Antonio told the Daily News-Record shortly after the announcement on Wednesday.
“We want to create the most fair and equitable, competitive model that we can,” he said, “and the reality that exists in the football schedule is there is practically not the ability to make up games that can’t be played.”
The lone exception for a postponement instead of a forfeit, according to league policy, is if the game can be played within a 24-hour window of its originally-scheduled kickoff time.
“We put that small, little caveat in,” D’Antonio said, “where there’s a potential if a game couldn’t be played on a Saturday that we’d look at the ability to play it on a Sunday. But once you get past the Sunday, there are no other make-up options available.”
D’Antonio said the decision to implement forfeits was made during a vote by university presidents and athletic directors in the conference with hopes of fairly determining a conference champion if games do have to be axed because of virus issues.
During the spring, league athletic directors had to vote on determining a conference champion after coronavirus issues cut the seasons short for Albany, Elon, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, and wreaked havoc on the schedule. Those decision-makers opted to crown Delaware, which finished 4-0 in the CAA North Division, over James Madison, which was 3-0 in the CAA South Division, as the conference champion.
There rightfully is optimism, though, heading into the traditional fall campaign that the number of games canceled will dwindle.
“The expectation going into the season is that our teams are going to be able to play games,” D’Antonio said.
Programs spent the short offseason educating players about the coronavirus vaccines. JMU coach Curt Cignetti said his Dukes, who have national championship aspirations, were are about 98-99 percent vaccinated. And during the CAA Football virtual media day last month, New Hampshire coach Sean McDonnell said he had Tampa Bay Buccaneers team doctor Fred Brennan, a UNH alum, speak to the Wildcats about the vaccine.
“He got on a Zoom call on a Sunday night for about an hour talking through all of the different scenarios and situations,” McDonnell said, “the pros and cons of vaccinations and it was everything I think these kids needed to hear. And more importantly it was another voice other than myself, our training staff and our coaches.”
The move to adopt forfeits follows what others in college football have discussed and implemented. Last month, Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey first mentioned the idea at his league’s media day when he said: “You’re expected to play as scheduled. That means your team needs to be healthy to compete, and if not, that game won’t be rescheduled. And thus, to dispose of the game, the ‘forfeit’ word comes up.”
Said D’Antonio: “It isn’t like the CAA is on an island. This is a decision that’s been made to date by the majority of FCS as well as FBS conferences, and I would suggest to you is what’s driving those decisions are the parameters I laid out.”
