A day after Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney said that Florida State could either travel to Clemson or pay for all of the Tigers’ expenses for a return trip to Tallahassee, FSU coach Mike Norvell offered his stance on what comes next.
“Our guys were ready to play and we wanted to play that game. We still look forward to it come Dec. 12 with the opportunity here in Tallahassee,” Norvell said.
The back-and-forth that has played out in the media comes after Clemson’s game against FSU on Saturday was postponed a few hours before kickoff and with the Tigers already in Tallahassee.
Clemson had a player test positive for COVID-19 on Friday who had practiced and traveled with the team. The player, a backup offensive lineman, tested negative for COVID on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, before the positive test.
The stance of Florida State’s medical advisors is that they did not feel comfortable playing a game after a Clemson player who tested positive was around the team throughout the week. The Seminoles were concerned that a Tigers player on the offensive line might pass along the coronavirus to an FSU defensive lineman, a source told The State.
Swinney told reporters Sunday, declining to elaborate, that “COVID was just an excuse to cancel the game.” Norvell on Monday said that COVID was “absolutely” why the game was postponed.
“Football coaches are not doctors, and some of us might think that we are,” Norvell said. “But there’s a reason why those advisors are able to make the decisions from the information that is provided. That’s something that as a coach we continue to do everything in our power to ensure the health and well-being of our players.”
Swinney’s argument was that Clemson followed all protocols, wore masks and shields on the plane, the team social distanced while in Tallahassee and that it was known heading into the season that these kinds of situations would occur.
“If that was their worry, they shouldn’t even play the season,” Swinney said. “No one ever had an illusion that there wouldn’t be a positive on a Friday. So again, that’s why the roster was expanded. And any time a guy is positive — whether it be a Monday test, a Wednesday test, a Friday test, whatever — any time a guy is positive, that person has been practicing and playing prior to being positive.”
It remains to be seen if the game will be made up and, if so, how the finances will work out to make it happen.
Norvell did say that “if contributions need to be made, then I’ll sign up to make one.”
The game being postponed cost FSU money as well, he said.
“When it comes to the missed opportunity with a game, there’s a lot of costs and expenses that go into that on both sides,” Norvell said.
Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich told The State on Saturday that if Clemson returns to Tallahassee for a game, “somebody would have to pay the cab fare.”
Radakovich was asked again about the possibility of Clemson returning to Florida State for a game on Dec. 12 while speaking Monday morning on the ACC Network. That weekend was built into the schedule for makeup games, with the ACC championship a week later in Charlotte.
