Arizona head coach Kevin Sumlin held his weekly press conference Monday afternoon, and naturally much of the discussion centered around the team's canceled game against Utah. There were other topics that were addressed, however, and here is a rundown of the biggest takeaways from Monday's press conference as the Wildcats turn the page and begin looking forward to their matchup with the 20th-ranked Trojans.
▶ Sumlin says Arizona's players shed "some tears" when Utah decision was announced
▶ Arizona confident about its own COVID-19 protocols, Sumlin feels good about UA right now
▶ Playing Washington after Utah canceled Saturday's game was not on the table for UA
▶ Sumlin says Arizona's players shed "some tears" when Utah decision was announced
Arizona learned of a potential issue involving Utah and COVID-19 just nine minutes before beginning a special teams meeting and a little over an hour away from Friday workouts ahead of lunch and getting on the plane for Utah. Things quickly derailed after that and by the afternoon the team knew it would not be getting on the plans since its game had been canceled. Sumlin said the team, as you would expect, was "extremely disappointed" when learning the news but Sumlin has made it a point to get the team looking forward. He said he was able to get together with the captains over the weekend and the players were able to get some more work in Saturday in preparation for the new season opener. Certainly it was a disappointing day for the team.
"Friday is not a walk through, we're actually practicing," Sumlin said as he recounted the delivery of the message to his team. "At that point you're about to eat lunch, get on a bus, head to the airport and go. There were some extremely frustrated young men. Some tears because they're putting a lot of work into it."
Sumlin has harped on moving forward from last weekend and getting ready for the challenge ahead. While frustrated by the situation Sumlin did not want to go as far as to put the blame on Utah in any way. He said that was the worst-case scenario for this season considering Arizona found out Friday about 24 hours before kickoff, and he understands that is part of what this season is as teams try to play through a pandemic.
▶ Arizona confident about its own COVID-19 protocols, Sumlin feels good about UA right now
While the focus of the cancellation was on Utah's side with positive COVID-19 cases, there is always a concern that other teams will be in a similar position. Four teams in the Pac-12 had their games impacted by the coronavirus over the weekend and this week there are already games that are up in the air in other conferences because of the ongoing spread. Fortunately for UA, the team did not leave Tucson and Sumlin is plenty confident in the system of protocols the school has set up for the players and staff. He feels safe though he continues to caution that things could change at any time when it comes to COVID-19 and its direct impact on his team. As of now UA does not have active cases, he said.
"Over the course of time we've had (positive cases) but now with our testing protocol and our testing that's been up for four or five times a week we don't have those issues right now," he said. "Again, I go back to that could change tomorrow. That's just the world we live in right now, just being honest with you. ... I think the confidence level with our medical team, our administration and how we've done things is at a high level. If we do have those issues we've addressed them immediately, and right now things are going pretty well. But, as you've seen around the country that can change and if it does, it does. We feel good about where we are."
Local health restrictions play into the equation and Cal is one program that has been impacted by strict local guidelines. The Golden Bears had just one player test positive last week, but contact tracing left the team with too few players to take part in Saturday's game against Washington. Sumlin was asked if UA has any safeguards to protect against such an instance in its own program and he said it does. He didn't elaborate but did seem confident that Arizona would avoid a situation like Cal is working through right now in Berkeley.
▶ Playing Washington after Utah canceled Saturday's game was not on the table for UA
On a related note, Sumlin set the record straight on the idea that Arizona could have played Washington over the weekend since both teams are healthy and needed a game when both Cal and Utah were forced to cancel. Despite reports to the contrary, Sumlin said a potential matchup with the Huskies was never under consideration. The word had been that Arizona had at least preliminary talks with UW about playing at some point during the opening weekend but the logistics made it impossible. Sumlin certainly made it sound like the discussions didn't get far along between the two programs, however.
"No, we were not trying to get a game going," the UA head coach said. "... I don't know how you could just flip around and play another college football team in 24 hours. That doesn't make any sense to me. We haven't watched any of their video. You get notified that you're not gonna play. We're not just gonna turn around and go play Washington in 24 hours. That was never a consideration."
