AUSTIN (KXAN) — There are still many decisions to be made on the college football season in the weeks ahead, two big shoes dropped Tuesday afternoon, with the Big Ten and the Pac-12 postponing fall sports to the spring.
Despite dominoes falling in other parts of the country, Texas State is still hard at work as they try to get ready for their first opponent SMU on Sept. 5.
It’s a tricky time to be a player or coach in college football, but Texas State head coach Jake Spavital says his players’ spirits are still high despite uncertainty.
“I’ve sat down with the team and they want to play, and I’m going to do everything I can for our players,” Spavital said. “We’ve had a lot of talks about the COVID guidelines, our protocols and everything and they believe they are in the safest place right now, here in our facility in our fall camp.”
According to Spavital, no players have opted out of the season and he has not heard that any players are planning to opt out going forward. He asserts that the coaching staff and medical staff is stressing to the players responsibility off the field, so there can be glory on the gridiron.
“These kids stood up and they know what’s at stake and they want to make sure that all of the new kids on this program are following exactly what we tell them to do so we can end up playing a season,” Spavital added.
The Sun Belt Conference, which is where Texas State competes, announced on Monday that its member schools can continue to practice and that the season will go on as scheduled.
The Bobcats moved back their game with SMU to the original kickoff date in September after picking up an unexpected bye week on Sept. 26. Texas State’s game with Ohio, originally scheduled for Sept. 26, was canceled following the Mid-American Conference’s decision to postpone fall sports.