TEMPLE, Texas — After four-and-a-half months without sports, the state of Texas is just 10 days from high school football returning and seeming right in most of the state.
But, this season will be unlike any other before it. That much is already clear, no matter how many questions still loom.
"The big picture for Texas high school football, statewide, is a mess," Dave Campbell's Texas Football managing editor Greg Tepper said.
Each organization which governs the sports (UIL, TAPPS, TCAF) has set its guidelines as teams near the start of practice. But, with roughly 1,200 UIL football-playing schools across the state, there's a strong possibility each school will have a unique story if or when this season ends.
"There are going to be teams that are only going to play six games," Tepper said. "And there are going to be teams that, literally, do not field a varsity team in 2020, basically, because we are all navigating the different orders and forces essentially tugging from a variety of different directions."
UIL has already set stadium capacity at 50 percent, maximum, for the fall and Tepper doesn't see that changing unless COVID-19 numbers in Texas drastically improve.
But, with districts of various sizes across the state (as small as four teams in 6-man and far west Texas, and as large as 10 in the Rio Grande Valley), who will be making the decisions on how to navigate the road when district games start getting canceled because of the virus?
According to Tepper, it'll lie on the bodies typically tasked with eligibility and tie-breaker scenarios for each district. The district executive committees, largely comprised of school superintendents and administrators.
Those decisions include district play if the season is shortened and what happens if a team can't play, making this, arguably, the most stressful season for DEC's.
"Furthermore, another question we're going to have moving forward is what are forfeitures going to look like," Tepper said about teams who cannot play a game or field a team because of the virus, including local and county mandates.
Some options in those circumstances would include forfeiting missed games or declaring those games "no contests," meaning they would not count in a team's record.
No matter how you look at it, the only thing we know about the 2020 Texas High School Football season with 10 days until it starts is there are still more questions than answers.
Watch Kurtis Quillin's full conversation with Dave Campbell's Texas Football managing editor Greg Tepper below.
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