We’ll be watching… This announcement comes just a day after Atlantic Coast Conference announced that the league would play an 11-game league season, which will feature 10 league games as well as one non-conference match. The ACC will also include Notre Dame as an ACC Football team for the 2020 season. We now have the answer to the age-old college football query: What is it going to take to get Notre Dame into a football conference? That’s what. The world didn’t have to freeze over. The ACC chose the 10 and 1 format because it allowed for traditional rivalries between states such as Florida-Florida State and South Carolina-Clemson, Georgia-Georgia Tech, Kentucky-Louisville, South Carolina–Clemson, South Carolina-Clemson, and South Carolina-Clemson to be played. The SEC responded the next day that there was no need. Early reports suggest that Kentucky and Tennessee would be added to Ole Miss’s schedule, and that Vanderbilt and Florida would be added to State’s. These reports are not confirmed and could prove to be premature. All of this is only a tentative understanding. There is no way to know for certain. A 10-game schedule that includes all SEC games is the best scenario right now. Because if you compare a map showing the 11 states of the Southeastern Conference to a map showing the region most affected by the pandemic, you’ll almost get a match. Florida is the most populous state in terms of COVID-19 per capita cases. Mississippi is the No. Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi are next. Tennessee, Georgia, and South Carolina all make up the top 10, which is a list that no one wants to be in. If these numbers don’t change dramatically – and there is no indication they will – it is difficult to imagine a 10-game season even being begun. I repeat: Football has no social distancing. None. Major League Baseball’s return has revealed just how unpredictable this whole thing is. Just a week into the schedule, several games were postponed. Six teams have had their schedules changed. One team may have as many as 19 positive case. This is Week One. This is baseball, not football. This is professional, not amateur. It seems like a good time to remind people that Mississippi’s current restrictions restrict gatherings to 10 persons indoors and 20 outdoors. They also require social distancing of 6 feet between individuals who don’t live in the same house. There are 80 college football players. They rarely stand six feet apart. These are guidelines for mid-August. However, we don’t know if it will change. Our numbers are not moving in the right direction. Let’s say this: The SEC must make significant changes between now and Sept. 26, if it hopes to play the 10-game league-only schedule. There is still much to be determined: Will fans be allowed in the SEC? How many? Who is eligible? This affects more than just the SEC teams. Auburn was supposed to host Southern Miss on Sept. 26. The $1.85 million Southern Miss game would have cost has been canceled. The already tight USM athletic budget is now taking a significant hit. Everybody is suffering financial losses these days. Jeremy McClain, USM’s athletic director, announced that he would search for another game at that time. McClain was already looking for a Sept. 19 game to replace Jackson State, as the SWAC, which Jackson State is a member, had postponed their football season until spring. The SWAC plan is also a best-case scenario. Everything is still tentative until we get a vaccine.