Luke Fickell addresses COVID concerns ahead of Alabama matchup

As Cincinnati arrives in the Dallas area ahead of its historic College Football Playoff semifinal matchup with Alabama, the team is treating things differently than many previous bowl trips.

COVID-19 positive case numbers have significantly risen lately, and impacted the sports world. The outbreak has impacted scheduling just like the coronavirus did all throughout 2020. While there has been multiple college football postseason bowl games cancelled, nearly every team that’s still playing is doing all it can to prevent that from happening to them.

“Guys have made some sacrifices they wouldn’t normally have on a six-day bowl trip,” Fickell told The Athletic’s Chris Vannini. “We’ll be smart about who we’re around.”

Multiple bowl games have already been cancelled or altered due to COVID-19 complications, leaving teams like Texas A&M, Miami and others unable to play for their respective bowl trophies.

Of the teams with the most to lose, Cincinnati has perhaps the most to lose with a COVID-19 outbreak.

The College Football Playoff has announced any team that isn’t able to play due to COVID-19 related issues will forfeit. There will be no postponements, so Cincinnati is certainly taking every preventative measure it can.

The Bearcats – who are ranked No. 4 in the nation – and No. 1 Alabama are scheduled to kickoff at 3:30 p.m. ET on Friday at AT&T Stadium on ESPN. Alabama comes in as a 13.5-point favorite, with the over/under set at 58 total points.

Nick Saban on COVID-19

Alabama, which is also currently in Dallas, Texas ahead of its matchup with Cincinnati in the College Football Playoff’s Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Eve at AT&T Stadium, has similar concerns about the spread of COVID-19.

After arriving in Dallas on Sunday, Alabama’s Nick Saban discussed COVID-19 and how his program is handling it.

“I mean, we implemented the masks, the social distancing in meetings with players way back when we started,” Saban said. “So we’re already doing all the protocols that we feel we possibly can. Our team’s all been vaccinated, 92% of our players have also had boosters. But we have encouraged them to use the same practices that we had to use a year ago – whether it’s wearing a mask in meetings, wearing a mask when you’re not in the building, social distancing when we’re in meetings. So if there were some new protocols that would help us be safer, we would certainly implement them. But I think we tried to implement all that we know that has worked in the past.”