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Will there be a 2020 season?

It doesn’t matter what you believe about the virus or who you support, but if you don’t believe this is gonna keep being pushed hard through November I don’t know what to tell ya. There will be backlash with whatever decision the state makes and I fear that our side will be the upset ones
 
The shoes continue to drop. Not sure how many shoes this thing wears, but ...

- Ivy League announces no sports before January 1
- Texas school official says high school football in that state is very unlikely this year. No football? In TEXAS?!?
- New Mexico announces no high school football or soccer in that state this year
- If you saw the Big Ten’s announcement, it actually said “IF” there is college football this year, then they’ll only play conference games. The Pac 12 and the ACC are rumored to be considering the same.

it doesn’t look good for football this season.
 
It doesn’t matter what you believe about the virus or who you support, but if you don’t believe this is gonna keep being pushed hard through November I don’t know what to tell ya. There will be backlash with whatever decision the state makes and I fear that our side will be the upset ones

‘It doesn’t matter what you believe or who you support” - a reasonable statement

“They’re just pushing this to get an edge in the election!!!1!1” - batshit conspiracy talk

“It doesn’t matter what you believe” is absolutely true. Science and facts are going to prevail every time.

Here’s some facts:
-This virus is insanely contagious, we’re only starting to figure out ways to treat it, and we don’t have a vaccine yet.

-We know the virus is very dangerous for the elderly and those who have other existing conditions. Thankfully the outcome appears to be less serious for younger, healthier people, but it’s not *absolutely* safe - young people have died from the disease, and there is no way to predict who suffers and who doesn’t.

- We don’t know the long-term effects yet. There’s some evidence that people with a mild case of COVID-19 might still experience long-term problems with their lungs or other organs. Sure, it’s an unknown, but it’s not a definite fact that “kids don’t suffer from getting this” either.

-The virus appears to be spread very often by people who aren’t feeling sick and don’t even know they have it.

So we have a virus that can spread very easily from people who aren’t aware they have it, it can easily kill older people as well as a small number of younger, healthier folks, might have lasting health effects that we don’t understand yet, and we’ve got no good way to treat it. Somehow I don’t think the best response is, “We just have to go about our business and let people get sick, no big deal, it’s just the flu.”

It’s not just the flu, the flu doesn’t kill over 130,000 Americans in five months. Plus if you have the flu, you probably feel sick and try to stay away from other people - not possible if you have no symptoms.

This is not some political game. The world didn’t fake this disease to take down a President. Over a half-million humans didn’t die to stick it to your freedom of choice. Teachers and parents concerned over school opening procedures aren’t doing it to help a political party. Football (as much as I’m going to miss it if it’s gone, not to mention that I’d be losing work if there’s no games, too) is not more important than public health.

The questions need to be “can we get kids back in school safely?” and “are there actions we can take to conduct a football season while controlling the spread of the virus?” and “can we find a scientifically safe way to do this?” If we can’t, then we shouldn’t. If we can, let’s do what it takes.
 
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They just need to drop the quarantine requirement. If you get sick, then sit out. Make testing readily available.
But, no need to quarantine people who were only in 'close contact' if not testing positive or having any symptoms.
We need to learn to live with this illness like we do all the others, without locking everyone down whenever a case turns up.

Here’s where I absolutely agree with you. “Make testing readily available.” Because I think you’re right, there’s no need to quarantine people who don’t have the virus, and the only way to know that is to test them.

Which is what the government should have been doing between March and June - developing instant-read tests that can get your results right away, producing hundreds of millions of those tests in a crash program so they could get out into public use, and developing a system so when someone tests positive, you can quickly find people they’ve been in contact with and right away determine if they’ve been infected.

That’s what we should have done. Then we’d have the spread completely under control now, we’d be able to identify those with the virus and seal them off from the population, and we wouldn’t be having this discussion.

So yes, you are totally right. Unfortunately our leaders chose a different path.
 
‘It doesn’t matter what you believe or who you support” - a reasonable statement

“They’re just pushing this to get an edge in the election!!!1!1” - batshit conspiracy talk

“It doesn’t matter what you believe” is absolutely true. Science and facts are going to prevail every time.

Here’s some facts:
-This virus is insanely contagious, we’re only starting to figure out ways to treat it, and we don’t have a vaccine yet.

-We know the virus is very dangerous for the elderly and those who have other existing conditions. Thankfully the outcome appears to be less serious for younger, healthier people, but it’s not *absolutely* safe - young people have died from the disease, and there is no way to predict who suffers and who doesn’t.

- We don’t know the long-term effects yet. There’s some evidence that people with a mild case of COVID-19 might still experience long-term problems with their lungs or other organs. Sure, it’s an unknown, but it’s not a definite fact that “kids don’t suffer from getting this” either.

-The virus appears to be spread very often by people who aren’t feeling sick and don’t even know they have it.

So we have a virus that can spread very easily from people who aren’t aware they have it, it can easily kill older people as well as a small number of younger, healthier folks, might have lasting health effects that we don’t understand yet, and we’ve got no good way to treat it. Somehow I don’t think the best response is, “We just have to go about our business and let people get sick, no big deal, it’s just the flu.”

It’s not just the flu, the flu doesn’t kill over 130,000 Americans in five months. Plus if you have the flu, you probably feel sick and try to stay away from other people - not possible if you have no symptoms.

This is not some political game. The world didn’t fake this disease to take down a President. Over a half-million humans didn’t die to stick it to your freedom of choice. Teachers and parents concerned over school opening procedures aren’t doing it to help a political party. Football (as much as I’m going to miss it if it’s gone, not to mention that I’d be losing work if there’s no games, too) is not more important than public health.

The questions need to be “can we get kids back in school safely?” and “are there actions we can take to conduct a football season while controlling the spread of the virus?” and “can we find a scientifically safe way to do this?” If we can’t, then we shouldn’t. If we can, let’s do what it takes.
Lol I knew someone would say something about that, I’m not saying the virus isn’t dangerous and I’m not saying it’s fake and also I’m not right or left wing and I don’t support either candidate. It obviously is killing people, BUT you can’t tell me it isn’t being politicized by the media. They tell you to stay home and not go anywhere, but then they tell you to go protest in crowds of tens of thousands of people. It just doesn’t make sense, none of it.
 
Here's an idea for the boys in Boone.

Postpone football for the fall. Instead, open up camp on February 15th. First game of the year will be March 5th. Season will run until April 30th. First Round on May 5th. Quarterfinals on May 10th. Semi-Finals on May 14th. State Finals over Memorial weekend.

Host Track & Field as a Summer Sport. It'll be the spring sport most effected by spring football. Start it on May 3rd. Have it go until mid-July. Gives kids a two week break before fall camp starts up in 2021.

That's our best option at this point.

Todd Tharp, call me.

i agree, something like this sounds like the most likely option to have anything like a full 2020-21 football season.

Here’s another take, from Jeff Linder at the Cedar Rapids Gazette. Just a sportswriter, so no influence with the IHSAA, but he’s trying to think through the logistics.

https://www.thegazette.com/subject/...orts-to-spring-spring-sports-to-fall-20200710
 
Let’s quit kidding each other, there will be no FB season this fall...and as of now “in person” school is on the ropes. But then, after observing my fellow citizens over the past four months, those disappointments pale in comparison to what possibly lies ahead for our republic, God help us.
 
Most antibody tests - even in hard-hit places like New York - show we are far from “everybody already having it.”

Look, it’s a risk-management decision, weighing costs and benefits. Is it worth it to risk increased spread in order to open up businesses? Can the economy survive a shutdown to control a pandemic? These are serious questions for serious people, but they also require facts and evidence ... and unfortunately there is still a LOT about this virus that we don’t know. Not knowing those answers makes any cost-benefit study suspect, because it’s not based on solid information.

This year sucks, no two ways about it. I’m lucky enough to be semi-retired, but my part-time job stopped giving me any hours at the end of March, I’ve had three other paying gigs canceled, if there’s no high school football that’s another paying gig gone, I haven’t been able to see my granddaughter in person since February ... this *sucks* top-to-bottom.

But we have to ask ... is football worth the risk of a kid infecting his grandparents, who very well might die? Heck, is *school* worth that risk? People would fall on both sides of that question, but to make the smartest decision, we need to have as many facts as possible. And there’s a lot we’re still not sure about.

So, again, I don’t have answers right now. We completely botched the shutdown from March to May and wasted all that time, time we could have used to get us prepared to contain the virus for summer and fall. That time is gone, and we’re right back to the spot we were (with a lower death rate, for now, at least, thank God).

if the government isn’t willing to shut down the economy and pay people to stay home while they make a serious effort to control the spread - and who am I kidding, of course they’re not going to do anything like that - it’s incumbent on EACH OF US to do the best things we can to try to keep the rest of us safe. Wear masks, damn it. Don’t pack yourself into bars and restaurants or all over beaches and parties. Be kind to your fellow Americans, instead of ranting about nonexistent “rights” to spread your spittle wherever you please. It looks like the only “choice“ we’re going to be given is “live with the virus, and good luck with that.” So everyone has to take the measures they feel are important to help ALL of us.

Places in Arizona announced today their morgues are full. This is still killing people. It needs to be taken seriously. Can we do that and still have football? Or school? I would love to have an answer to that that’s better than “It’s not that serious for the kids, we just have to ride it out.” The kids aren’t in a bubble - they have families and coaches and referees and bus drivers and teachers that they’re also going to be in close contact with. That’s easy to say when it’s not your grandfather or your mother or your uncle that’s on a ventilator, or in a casket, when it could have been avoided if we’d acted a little bit smarter for the past five months.
 
I was wondering about the quarantine thing. I see teams (like Dowling and Heelan) get one case and they shutdown for 14 days (or cancel the season) and hear of others that have a positive case and nothing done...

This is essentially a new flu bug, that we all have either already gotten and overcome or were a-symptomatic and never knew. We can't go into hiding anymore (well except for protests, wal-mart, lowes, costco, etc). The mental health issues will be much greater on the other side of this if we quarantine everyone again.

It's not even a case on the team that is shutting teams down. In a case I'm aware of, it was the girlfriend of a player.
Kids had hung out with her, so they all had to sit for 14 days. They weren't sick.
BUT, they then decided not to get tested...because then everybody who had been around them would potentially have to quarantine if they were positive, creating a ripple effect. They were going to have to isolate for 14 days anyway.
So, the quarantine is actually having the opposite effect and may lead to less testing of contacts.

I've heard rumors of teams that just won't get tested, or won't say anything if someone around them does test positive, because it would be the end of their season. I suspect that approach may catch on.
Again, this just won't work for school. One kid gets it, they go to school and go to science class, math class, etc.
Then everyone around that kid (the entire school) could get quarantined for 14 days? Chances of making it through the year are near zero.
So, if you're sick, get tested, self quarantine. Just like we do now when you have strep, the flu, pertussis, heck even Tuberculosis.
 
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I just wish a decision would be made, coaches but do much effort in to planning right now it’s has to be frustrating to be planning for things that may or may not happen. Make a decision a try something, I know things are constantly changing but eventually decisions have to be made.
 
So anybody see about Heelan baseball? Had a player test positive on the 9th and today announced they are going to continue playing.
 
As it pertains to the 2020 season, I’ve heard rumors of a decision being made by 8/3 (assume this would come from the IHSAA) does anyone have knowledge of this?
 
As it pertains to the 2020 season, I’ve heard rumors of a decision being made by 8/3 (assume this would come from the IHSAA) does anyone have knowledge of this?
I would hope so since that is the day most teams will start practice with a "camp week".
 
As it pertains to the 2020 season, I’ve heard rumors of a decision being made by 8/3 (assume this would come from the IHSAA) does anyone have knowledge of this?
It’s BAU right now until told otherwise. With Governor’s proclamation today that online learning can’t be greater than 50% of class time it makes sense to have fall sports as well. It’s either all or nothing at this point.
 
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Two weeks ago I would’ve said no season but it just is seeming to me that there will be some type of one the farther we’ve gone on.
 
I’m very interested in these guidelines for playing. Anybody heard of any possibilities that they’ll do so playing can happen?
 
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Death rate right now is so low, it’s towing the line of no longer being pandemic status. Only know of one person in my area that’s died, a 95 y/o life long smoker. Of course there’s special cases where healthy people are dying, but cmon how often is that happening? Rate of that has to be almost incalculably low
 
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Really like the new format for this year...….and I bet Perry will be elated!!

Assuming Tyson doesn't shut them down they will be in the Playoffs!
 
Big update today. Link for more details:

"REGULAR SEASON: A seven-week regular season will be conducted. Teams will have the option of scheduling five, six, or seven games within those seven weeks.

POSTSEASON: All teams in all classes will qualify for the postseason. Brackets will consist of six rounds for each classification. The IHSAA will determine postseason pairings with geography, quality, and team availability as primary considerations. This is intended to be a one-time measure for postseason formatting.

RPI FORMULA: With all teams allowed entry into the postseason, the Ratings Percentage Index will not be utilized in 2020 to determine at-large berths or seeding.

https://www.iahsaa.org/football-2020-revised-schedule/
 
To better prepare for the 2020 varsity football season, the IHSAA developed a revised schedule plan which allows for member school adjustments due to COVID-19. Football remains the only Iowa high school sport with regular season schedules and postseason qualifying managed by the IHSAA. The revised plan considers flexibility for school return concerns, geography, postseason qualifying, transportation, and possible COVID-19 cases as rationale for changing previously announced varsity football schedules.

The first practice (August 10) and first competition (August 27) dates are currently unchanged in this revision, as are the weeks for state semifinals (November 13-15) and finals (November 20-21).

This revised plan was approved by the Board of Control on Friday. The IHSAA plans to release further fall season and sport-specific guidance next week. Team schedules will be compiled and released when available.



2020 Scheduling Plan
REGULAR SEASON:
A seven-week regular season will be conducted. Teams will have the option of scheduling five, six, or seven games within those seven weeks.

POSTSEASON: All teams in all classes will qualify for the postseason. Brackets will consist of six rounds for each classification. The IHSAA will determine postseason pairings with geography, quality, and team availability as primary considerations. This is intended to be a one-time measure for postseason formatting.

OPTIONAL DATES: Week 1 and Week 2 will be optional game dates. Opponents, locations, and participation may determined by member schools in 11-player football.

RPI FORMULA: With all teams allowed entry into the postseason, the Ratings Percentage Index will not be utilized in 2020 to determine at-large berths or seeding.

DISTRICT GAMES: Teams in Classes 3A, 2A, 1A, and A will play their scheduled district games in the previously established order. This change means the prior Week 5 becomes Week 3, Week 6 becomes Week 4, etc., in this revised plan.

CLASS 4A: Participating schools will schedule their own regular season games. The previously announced group format and success model will not be implemented in 2020. The IHSAA encourages conferences to collaborate in creating their schedules.

EIGHT-PLAYER: Teams will play Week 3 through Week 9 of their previously announced schedules in what is now Week 1 through Week 7. Due to the number of teams in the classification, Eight-Player has opponents scheduled on the optional dates of Week 1 and Week 2. Teams in Eight-Player may opt out of those contests, but may not change opponents or locations unless an agreement is reached with all participating teams and the IHSAA.

MISSING GAMES: Due to the potential of positive COVID-19 cases forcing players and teams to miss games in the 2020 regular season, the revised plan does not penalize teams with a loss or forfeit due to state, county, or local health department determinations. A missed game due to COVID-19 will be considered a “no contest” and will not be made up. Teams may work with the IHSAA and new possible opponents should they have open dates due to scheduled opponents missing games.

OUT OF STATE GAMES: Teams with scheduled games against out of state opponents may attempt to reschedule those contests during the optional Week 1 or Week 2.

TEAM PARTICIPATION: Providing for start dates as currently scheduled, the IHSAA requests member schools state their intent to participate in football’s regular season and postseason by August 17.
 
Interesting solution, can’t say I’m disappointed given our first schedule. I bet there’s some LONG days ahead for the AD’s...in 4A.
 
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Interesting solution, can’t say I’m disappointed given our first schedule. I bet there’s some LONG days ahead for the AD’s...in 4A.
Be interesting to see how many play 5, 6 or 7 games. I’m willing to bet most will want to play 6 to get a game in before district play. Maybe play week 1 then take 2 weeks to prepare for district play. This will allow old rivals to renew without it really impacting playoffs.
 
Why not play all 7? No real penalty for losing anymore? May as well get the extra game experience.
Maybe could hurt seeding I guess. Not sure how they’ll do that.
Really, it’s mainly providing some flexibility in the schedule. Especially on the front end as schools and teams adjust to things.
 
Does anyone know about sophomore/freshman schedules, there’s rumors about only varsity games?
 
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Not playing jv for a year could ruin smaller programs for multiple years. Fringe guys who would be starters as juniors and seniors may quit rather than practice for a year with no playing
 
Iron Doc is pleased to see Iowa adopt the Minnesota model (everyone makes the FB playoffs).
THIS was long overdue, much like introducing the DH into the National League.
 
I have posted something similar to this in the past, but I would like to see Iowa go to a similar system as Minnesota has. Here are the basics of it.

Teams are divided into 8 sub-states per class, this is done preseason or after week 4 or 5 like baseball and basketball.
Teams would play an eight game regular season schedule of anyone that they would like.
At the end of the 8 game season the coaches of the sub-state get together and seed teams.
The eight winners of the sub-states are "state qualifiers", a state committee seeds these and games are played at neutral sites.
Semifinals and Finals are played at the Dome just like is done now.

There would be some byes for better teams in week 1 of the postseason. And I am not sure if this would work for 8 man as there are more than 64 teams, either maintain the current format or in eight man there could be a chance of not qualifying.

I would go with this schedule.

Week 8 game is on Thursday.
Postseason Week 1 Wednesday
Postseason Week 2 Tuesday
Postseason Week 3 Monday
Quarterfinals Saturday at neutral sites, this allows for day games, double or triple headers, etc.
Semifinals Thursday-Saturday
Finals Thursday and Friday

I think that this schedule allows for enough rest, teams are still guaranteed 9 games, and allows for everyone to have a chance to make it to state. It truly makes it exactly like basketball and baseball, the other two non individual sports the state sponsors (meaning you can't win an individual title in these sports.)
 
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Not playing jv for a year could ruin smaller programs for multiple years. Fringe guys who would be starters as juniors and seniors may quit rather than practice for a year with no playing
What smaller programs field a JV team? From what I have seen is most schools are just adopting a 9/10 team format and then Varsity. Our school has had issues with our varsity opponents not having a JV team to play the following Monday.
 
What smaller programs field a JV team? From what I have seen is most schools are just adopting a 9/10 team format and then Varsity. Our school has had issues with our varsity opponents not having a JV team to play the following Monday.
JV for smaller schools is generally freshmen/sophomores unless they’re good enough to play variety. There could be the occasional junior play JV. Smaller school don’t have enough numbers to play 3 or 4 different levels.
 
JV for smaller schools is generally freshmen/sophomores unless they’re good enough to play variety. There could be the occasional junior play JV. Smaller school don’t have enough numbers to play 3 or 4 different levels.
Ok Got it. I'm more familiar with HS having a 9th grade team, a JV team and a Varsity team. What I am seeing is 3A schools are forgoing JV and having a 9/10 team and Varsity only. Basically the same thing you mention for smaller schools. The only difference would be Juniors would either need to find playing time on Varsity or stand on the sidelines. The football in our area our JV teams are playing the Varsity Opponent the following Monday. The 9th Grade team plays on Friday before the Varsity game.
 
Ok Got it. I'm more familiar with HS having a 9th grade team, a JV team and a Varsity team. What I am seeing is 3A schools are forgoing JV and having a 9/10 team and Varsity only. Basically the same thing you mention for smaller schools. The only difference would be Juniors would either need to find playing time on Varsity or stand on the sidelines. The football in our area our JV teams are playing the Varsity Opponent the following Monday. The 9th Grade team plays on Friday before the Varsity game.
Same here. Most JV games are against the same opponent that varsity just played Friday night, with a few exceptions since they don’t play the same number of games.
 
Illinois just shut down fall high school sports, so we know for sure those cross-border games aren’t happening. (I think Davenport Assumption, Clinton, North Scott, and Davenport West had games scheduled with Illinois schools, at least before last Friday’s revision from the IHSAA.)
 
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