Fresno State submits plan to county, taking next step to joining fall football season
Fresno State on Tuesday submitted its plan to the county’s public health department to bring student-athletes back to campus in advance of a Mountain West Conference vote on a fall football season, a university spokesperson confirmed.
That plan, which would have to be approved by county officials before the Bulldogs could start full-scale practices, includes among other things COVID-19 testing protocols, social distancing measures and clearing procedures for strength and conditioning areas, locker rooms and meeting rooms.
How long it would take for a county response is unknown, but if the conference’s board of directors approve a plan to play an eight-game football season that would start Oct. 24, time will quickly become a factor.
Fresno State has not had its football team together for any organized strength and conditioning workouts or practices since the spring, and is behind many of its Mountain West rivals. It had to cancel spring practices due to the coronavirus, then due to county health and safety guidelines did not bring student-athletes back for voluntary workouts in June, two mandatory sessions of workouts in July or for the scheduled start of fall camp in August.
The Mountain West board of directors will vote on a fall season on Thursday, according to sources, confirming reports on Tuesday from Yahoo Sports.
Mountain West vote on football
With an eight-game schedule starting Oct. 24 the Mountain West would likely retain its scheduling rotation, which does include some breaks for Fresno State on and off the football field.
The Bulldogs were scheduled to play road games at Nevada and UNLV and they do not have to make the trip to Hawaii, giving an athletics department hit hard by coronavirus-related budget cuts an opportunity to at least save on travel costs.
Fresno State, according to department sources, had priced charter flights to Las Vegas and Reno at around $70,000. If traveling by bus, it would be around $21,000.
Fresno State also was scheduled to play Air Force, Colorado State and Utah State from the Mountain Division.
On the football field, the Bulldogs aren’t the only team with questions to be answered if and when they are allowed to get back on the practice field.
In the West Division, Fresno State is one of four teams with a new head coach and only San Jose State has its coach and both coordinators back from 2019. Hawaii, San Diego State and UNLV have a new coach and new coordinators and Nevada has a new defensive coordinator.
Four of the teams also lost starting quarterbacks from a year ago and the two that did not – Nevada with Carson Strong and UNLV with Kenyon Oblad – have work to do.
Of the nine qualifying quarterbacks in the Mountain West last season Oblad and Strong, both redshirt freshmen at the time, ranked seventh and eighth in the conference and 85th and 92nd in the nation in passing efficiency.