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Even though the College Football Playoff is still set to go as scheduled, the CFP leadership does have a plan in place in the case of COVID-19 postponements.
According to Heather Dinich of ESPN, the CFP is willing to postpone the semifinal games and the National Championship if necessary:
I'm told the @CFBPlayoff is willing to postpone its semifinals and national championship games, along with the Cotton, Fiesta and Peach bowls IF needed should one or both teams be unable to play b/c of COVID-19 issues. It's unclear right now if Orange will have same flexibility.
— Heather Dinich (@CFBHeather) December 22, 2020
As the tweet also says, they’re willing to postpone the Cotton, Fiesta, and Peach bowls as well, though the Orange Bowl may not be able to.
After Dinich reported this, she talked to Bill Hancock, who’s the Executive Director of the CFP. Here’s what he had to say to her:
Bill Hancock told me, "We are planning to play the games when they’re scheduled. We’ve said all along that we will be ready for any circumstance, and we will. But if one or both teams are not available and have to postpone a bowl game or the championship game, we will do it.”
— Heather Dinich (@CFBHeather) December 22, 2020
Even though it may not happen, it’s good to see that the CFP has a plan in place in case one or more teams have an outbreak of positive COVID-19 cases.
Right now, the game between No. 1 Alabama and No. 4 Notre Dame is expected to kick off at 4 p.m. ET on Jan. 1. After that, No. 2 Clemson will play No. 3 Ohio State and that game will start at 8 p.m. ET.