SEC athletic directors are meeting Monday. Here’s what it could mean for Georgia

The direction of the fall college sports season within the SEC rests in the hands of an in-person meeting Monday. The conference’s 14 athletic directors are set to convene with commissioner Greg Sankey at the league offices in Birmingham, Alabama to survey options.

The meeting has potential to change the major college football landscape amid the continuing coronavirus pandemic. Last Wednesday, the Ivy League canceled the entirety of its fall sports season, and earlier Thursday the Big Ten became the first conference to roll out a conference-only blueprint for fall competition.

The ACC said in a statement that it will announce plans by the end of July as it surveys numerous options. Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott announced a conference-only plan over the weekend.

An anticipated Georgia football season, in return, could have a vastly-different dynamic given the latest shift. The most-probable result of the meetings is that the 12-game regular season won’t happen exactly as planned.

Sankey has indicated he expects a late July decision for the SEC. He said in a radio interview with ESPN that there are many options, but said his concern around a college football season occurring is “high to very high.”

“We’re all linked nationally, so when other people make decisions, there’s an impact,” Sankey said to ESPN. “Also, we’re going to look at our situation and make a decision that’s appropriate for the Southeastern Conference and most importantly for the health of our student-athletes.”

Based on decisions from other conferences, there are a few moves the SEC could make. There are many changes that seem likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the first is eliminating all non-conference games.

The Bulldogs’ season-opening contest against Virginia (Sept. 7) in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game would be axed. The three other non-conference games are against East Tennessee State (Sept. 12), UL-Monroe (Sept. 26) and Georgia Tech (Nov. 28) at Sanford Stadium.

Each of those omissions to the schedule would have unique significance.

Georgia was slated to return to the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game — which includes a lofty payout — for the first time since it beat North Carolina to open the 2016 season. East Tennessee State was expected to receive a $550,000 guarantee for playing the Bulldogs, according to a contract obtained by the Athens Banner-Herald. UL-Monroe, according to the Monroe (Louisiana) News Star, inked a contract with a $1.8 million guarantee that was expected to be paid by January 2021.

Within the state, the rivalry between Georgia and Georgia Tech would be paused for the first time since 1925. The two teams have played in consecutive seasons for the Governor’s Cup since a nine-season gap occurred from 1916-24.

A reasonable adjustment to a conference-only schedule would be to keep the Georgia Tech game due to close 70-mile proximity between the schools.

In a conference-only format, Georgia would have eight games for its schedule with the season slated to open Sept. 19 at Alabama. The SEC could start the conference slate at an earlier date or add two more opponents to round out the conference schedule at 10 games.

Those added games could be the crossover opponents scheduled for 2021 and 2022: Arkansas and Mississippi State. Nonetheless, a shift in dates or number of opponents seems likely.

The outlook for the College Football Playoff or a conference title game, like many other things, is unknown at this time.

The next domino will follow a series of events that have occurred since March, when sports were shut down. Georgia did not hold spring practice and has been without the chance to host recruits for on-campus visits. Since June 8, players and coaches have returned to campus for voluntary workouts. There are protocols being followed, but all of these activities are performed without the certainty of a season beginning in September.

Georgia athletics does not release any COVID-19 results to the public, and NCAA rules prohibit media coverage of the voluntary activity. There have been spikes at programs throughout the country, however, which has led to temporary suspension of workouts at various schools.

As of July 9, the university’s health center reported that 256 students and staff members “within the UGA community” have tested positive for the coronavirus since March. The data given by the university states that the numbers include “students or employees who have not been on campus during this time frame.”

The groundwork of an upcoming fall sports season will take place behind closed doors Monday.

“We’ll know a lot about the season, people in the stands, in September when that comes,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said in late May before players reported to campus. “It’s hard to make a decision.”

This story was originally published July 13, 2020 at 9:26 AM with the headline "SEC athletic directors are meeting Monday. Here’s what it could mean for Georgia."