Even in a prestigious game like the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, it is 2020 and it is COVID-19, and the question of whether anybody will opt out is going to linger for both Oklahoma and Florida.
The Sooners and Gators will meet for the first time since the 2008 national championship game, but it might be just a bit too early to know who is in and who is out for OU.
“We'll have to see. This is the off‑day, just got back, so I haven't had a chance to see our players yet,” head coach Lincoln Riley said. “We'll see how that plays out. Too early for us to say.”
Too early to know about opt outs, but we did learn about the transfer portal. Redshirt sophomore quarterback Tanner Mordecai announced Sunday afternoon that he is going to leave OU to look for another opportunity.
Riley had nothing but kind words to say about Mordecai’s three years in Norman.
“Tanner has been a really good member of this football team,” Riley said. “I think he's looking for the opportunity to go in and be a starter somewhere. I think he's done really well. I think he's ready to be a starter. He had some good competition while he was here. He had some unfortunate events that made it tougher for him to compete, like getting injured during our competition this year.
“But he's a great young man, great family, tremendous quarterback, and he'll make somebody very happy.”
As for Florida, there was one star opting out Sunday morning. Tight end Kyle Pitts, one of the breakout players of the 2020 season, announced he will bypass the bowl game and get ready for the 2021 NFL Draft.
“I've talked to other guys that are just viewing what their options are for the future, as they're getting with their family to go make a decision,” Florida coach Dan Mullen said. “Obviously, I don't think we got back until 4:00 in the morning last night. And so I think everybody is just trying to catch their breath here for 24 hours.”
Beamer Ball officially with Gamecocks
Couldn’t have asked for a better ending for the Shane Beamer tenure with the Sooners. He kept his word and was there for OU as the Sooners earned their sixth consecutive Big 12 championship and his third in three years.
OU’s special teams and tight ends/H-Backs performed well in the 27-21 win, but now Beamer is officially with South Carolina, taking over as head coach. Riley said Beamer flew to South Carolina for good Sunday morning.
So who is gonna coach what Beamer did so well in Norman?
“I haven't made that decision yet,” Riley said. “We won't have Coach Beamer with us. He's heading out to Columbia this morning. It was great to have that last great win with him and his family. A lot of capable people here on the staff. But, no, haven't fully made that decision yet.”
Christmas plans?
Add it to the 2020 list of changes, but yea, the bowl schedule is all sorts of out of whack because of COVID-19 and how late championship weekend occurred.
We’re already 10 days away from the Gators and Sooners. Mullen said he is going to allow his team the physical and mental break before getting back after it following Christmas.
It’s not the normal month leading up to a bowl game, and it sounds like Riley is still trying to figure out the best course of action.
“Yea, no, it's difficult,” Riley said. “I guess maybe the one silver lining is we only have ten days here, so we don't have a huge block of time to deal with, which actually makes it probably a little bit easier.
“No, Christmas is tough, where it falls on this game, both in proximity to the game and then obviously with COVID. We obviously just found out we're playing this game a few hours ago. So we're making plans, but not anything that I'd be ready to announce at this point.”
