Auburn looks for new season-opener as SWAC cancels fall schedule due to coronavirus

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With the second game of Auburn’s 2020 football season against North Carolina in question because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Tigers are now looking for an opponent to open the season with the announcement coming from the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) on Monday that the conference has postponed all fall contests and championships “due to continuing concerns related to the COVID-19 global pandemic.”

That means Auburn's scheduled opener on Sept. 5 against Alcorn State at Jordan-Hare Stadium won't be played, leaving the Tigers likely looking for a potential replacement game.

In a statement released by the conference, the SWAC stated:

The fall sports impacted include men’s and women’s cross country, football, women’s soccer and women’s volleyball. The conference has started the process of formalizing plans to conduct a competitive schedule for the fall sports during the 2021 spring semester.

Specifically, in the sport of football the plan includes a seven-game conference schedule beginning with an eight-week training period in January 2021. Each member institution will play a total of six conference games (four divisional/two non-divisional) with the option to play one non-conference game. 

Additional details regarding scheduling for women’s soccer, women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s cross country along with the Cricket Wireless SWAC Football Championship game will be released at a later date.

Fall sports teams and student-athletes will have the opportunity to attend classes and practices in preparation for a spring 2021 competitive schedule upon return to campus. Student-athletes will have the ability to participate in conditioning, strength training and practices in all sports provided all required local, state, and federal health and safety guidelines are met. There have been no final decisions made regarding competitive schedules for the league’s winter sports at this time.     

The SWAC Council of Presidents and Chancellors felt this action was necessary out of growing concern for the health, safety and well-being both mentally and physically of our student-athletes, coaches, administrators, team staff, campus faculty, fans and supporters.

The continued increase of COVID-19 cases across many portions of the league’s geographic footprint and Southern regions of the country played a significant role in the council’s decision, along with data that suggests African-American communities have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.  

The SWAC shares in the disappointment that will undoubtedly be felt by student-athletes, fans, and supporters impacted by the postponement of fall sports competition. The league will continue to review appropriate measures to ensure the health, safety and well-being of student-athletes, coaches, administrators and the local community which continues to be the primary responsibility of the Southwestern Athletic Conference and its member institutions.

For Coach Gus Malzahn and the Auburn Tigers that means the possibility of finding a replacement game to open the season. That’s something that Auburn has already been working on. With several leagues and teams around the country impacted by cancellations already, this could open up the door for an interesting matchup to open the 2020 schedule.

Currently, Auburn is still scheduled to play North Carolina in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic in Atlanta on Sept. 12. At the moment that's still something that CEO Gary Stokan says he's hoping will happen.

“We are still planning on playing the game on Sept. 12th,” Stokan told Inside the Auburn Tigers recently. “Everything is on schedule. We are just waiting for the end of July to see what the decisions of the SEC, ACC and Big 12 are with respect to going to conference-only games or whether they will play conference plus-one (game) or conference plus-two (games).

“In the case of either of those, conference plus-one or conference plus-two, the North Carolina vs. Auburn game would stay on Sept. 12th and we would look forward to hosting a Top 20 game with two great coaches and two of the best young quarterbacks in the country.”

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