College Football

Nine Sooners Test Positive After Break

Published Aug. 15, 2020 8:55 p.m. ET

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Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley announced Saturday that after a 6-day break for players, nine members of the Sooners football team tested positive for the coronavirus during the program's latest round of testing. 

Riley allowed players to return home for a nearly a week beginning on Aug. 8, after it became clear that the Sooners' season-opener on Aug. 29 would be postponed.

Said Riley: "Disappointed by the news. We've done such a tremendous job, and certainly you know when you give your players some time that there is risk in that."

The Sooners had previously found success in containing the virus with their stringent testing program. When the team returned to campus for workouts on July 1, there was a total of 14 players that tested positive for COVID-19. 

However, over the next five weeks, only one player tested positive, and between July 8-29, the program registered zero positive tests. 

Riley said that "over 75% of our team didn't leave Norman," adding that the program has been able to successfully contact trace the positive tests.

"It'd be pretty easy to say right now that I regret it," said Riley about allowing players to visit home. "I also feel like if I keep a team hemmed up here for a six- or seven-week training camp that I'd probably regret that, too."

Riley also made it clear that regardless of how many tests programs administer, college sports does not have the financial ability to guarantee that student-athletes do not come in contact with the virus, a la the NBA with its bubble concept in Orlando. 

He also seemed to hint at the idea that the safest his athletes have been is within the confines of the program.

"The two times that we've had any serious number of cases have been when we brought our players back originally, and here after having a few days where we have not had any organized team activities. ... It's an opportunity for us to continue to learn, continue to educate ourselves because the reality is this isn't the NBA. This is college football.

"We can try to minimize these risks as much as we possibly want, but we're never going to be able to eliminate them 100 percent. We don't have a bubble."

This past week, after both the Big Ten and Pac-12 announced that they were canceling fall football with hopes of putting on a spring season, the ACC, SEC and Big 12 each announced that they planned to move forward with a fall season.

It is yet to be seen if Saturday's news out of Oklahoma will have any impact on the Big 12 football season.

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