After an offseason of uncertainty and postponements, it’s not a surprise that the University at Buffalo football team was glad to be back on the field Monday for its first official preseason practice.
But things are different. The world is different because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the Bulls are regrouping after an unusual offseason, and even an unusual end to September. The Bulls held their first practice less than two months after the Mid-American Conference originally postponed its football season to the spring, and held their first preseason practice six days after the UB athletic department announced a Covid-19 outbreak among 25 athletes, including 19 football players.
“It felt normal, for once,” UB running back Jaret Patterson said Monday on a videoconference. “We’ve been through a lot of unknown and uncertainty, but it felt like we’re going in the right direction with where we’re headed. It definitely felt like some normalcy, especially today.”
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The last six days have served as a reminder to UB’s players that one wrong turn could derail a season of high expectations. UB defensive end Malcolm Koonce made it clear that his team’s goal is to win a MAC championship. But he also made clear what could change things.
“If we don’t follow protocols, our season will end,” Koonce said. “If a person tests positive, the person and his roommate has to sit out. That (roommate) could be a starter that’s not even positive. It’s a real difficult atmosphere, with trying to stay away from people and still practicing so we can still play football.”
The Bulls are scheduled to begin a six-game season Nov. 4. UB coach Lance Leipold said he expects the MAC to release its football schedule this week; each team will play five division opponents and one crossover game, with three home games and three away games.
“That part of the schedule, I was definitely pleased they kept that format,” Leipold said. “We’re all in the early part of being ready to play, so the first couple weeks are going to be generic as we prepare. It’s not changing how we’re going to go about these first couple weeks, so with that part, we can take a deep breath.”
To get from the start of preseason practices to the scheduled start of the season, though, will mean the Bulls will have to emphasize personal responsibility and accountability for the next four weeks.
Through last weekend, 24 college football games have been postponed or canceled because of Covid-19 issues, including positive tests, player and staff quarantine, and contact tracing.
UB is one of 111 Football Bowl Subdivision athletic programs that have reported or have had confirmed positive Covid-19 test data since June, according to a Buffalo News database that is tracking Covid-19 cases in college athletics. UB was also one of four FBS programs to have outbreaks last week, along with Notre Dame, Wyoming and Appalachian State.
Leipold said that UB did not practice with a full roster on its first day of practice, and that even the logistics of practices are different, from working in groups and holding meetings on video platforms rather than face-to-face and in designated rooms.
“There’s a lot of different ways to do things in smaller groups, and virtually, and a lot of different ways to do things as we evolve and as we continue to do that, moving forward,” Leipold said.
UB also began testing its football players for Covid-19 four times a week, per MAC guidelines. Leipold said no player at UB has opted out this season because of health or Covid-19 concerns.
“Everybody is under the same thing,” Leipold said. “We’ve got to find a way to play these six games.”
The message to the team, Paterson said, was to make personal health and football a top priority. That was reiterated last week in a players-only meeting, after the Bulls received word of a Covid-19 outbreak in their program.
“It’s more important, more than ever,” Patterson said. “We have to hold each other accountable, doing the little things right to take care of the big things, which is having everybody available. Wearing your mask when you’re supposed to, being socially distanced when we’re supposed to, and it’s going to pay off. If we’re going to do those little things right, we can do things on the field right. It translates.
“We told guys, if you can’t be disciplined for these next couple months, we understand. But we want to play football and go about it the right way and do all the safe protocols. I think it was a really great meeting, to let everybody know we need to take the right steps to achieve our goal this season.”
