Should a situation arise where any of the first four teams cannot compete in the College Football Playoff because of COVID-19, the CFP has set January makeup dates for the semifinal and national championship games, said the CFP’s executive director Bill Hancock to ESPN on Wednesday.
There was no indication from the teams or the CFP that a change would be necessary, but if both semifinal games were to be postponed, the CFP set January 11 for the Rose Bowl game presented by Capital One and January 12 for the Allstate Sugar Bowl . The makeup date for the College Football Playoff National Championship presented by AT&T is January 18 – a week after the current date of January 11 – at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
If both teams from a semifinal are available, the game will be played as scheduled, even if the other dispute has to be postponed. If a semifinal is late, the plan is to reschedule it for January 11th.
No. 1 Alabama and No. 4 Notre Dame are scheduled to play at 4 pm ET on Friday at the Rose Bowl, followed by No. 2 Clemson against No. 3 Ohio State at 8 pm ET in the Sugar Bowl.
“Everyone is planning to play as scheduled,” said Hancock. “Teams, school teams and bowl teams have worked hard to provide an opportunity for players. COVID procedures are in place in hotels and stadiums. We prepare carefully and we are ready. But it always makes sense to be prepared, even for circumstances that we don’t believe will happen. “
Hancock said makeup dates were determined taking into account that the Rose Bowl includes the highest seed, Alabama.
If any games are rescheduled, the locations will remain the same, said Hancock. This year’s Rose Bowl will be at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and the Sugar Bowl will remain at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans.
“Of course, we will keep an eye on things and adapt if necessary,” said Hancock. “The Cup season has got off to an exciting start and we are planning for it to continue.”