Ole Miss' Lane Kiffin Says 2 SEC Coaches Said 'No Way' They Could Play This Week

Labor Day Weekend was supposed to mark the opening of the 2020 college football season in earnest with a large slate of games highlighted by Alabama-USC at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. 

The COVID-19 pandemic changed that with the Big 12, ACC and SEC all starting their seasons later in September while the Big Ten and Pac-12 postponed fall sports altogether.

According to Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin, even if there were games this week at least two teams in his conference would not have been able to field a full roster of healthy players.

Kiffin spoke to The Pat McAfee Show on Friday and explained how the pandemic has changed college football already:

"We still got a ways to go," Kiffin said. "There are some teams right now in the SEC—I heard from two coaches today that there's no way they could play if they had a game this week."

The SEC won't begin play until September 26, giving teams time to continue easing their players into a normal season schedule and ensuring each player on the field is healthy. 

Yet it's unclear how many SEC schools have positive cases of COVID-19 within their athletic department.

ESPN's Paula Lavigne and Mark Schlabach attempted to survey each school across the Power 5 conferences to obtain data on positive cases and safety protocols but many in the SEC declined to respond. Arkansas, Auburn, Georgia, LSU, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt all refused to provide data related to student-athletes who test positive.

Ole Miss, Kiffin's school, declined as well. 

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey told CBS Sports last week the conference is prepared to play a full season even if outbreaks arise:

“We had to make decisions about how the season would be structured based on making the best judgements around completing the season. So, the delay. The idea that once we start, we could control our ability if we have to maneuver games or if we have to adjust, but really to control the health aspects with medical guidelines, testing protocols, and isolation guidelines that would be common. Our focus has been on the support of a healthy regular season."

Already it's clear the decision to delay the season was a necessary call. It may not have been entirely possible to start the season this weekend if conferences committed to the original schedule.