Maybe it’s oversimplifying things a bit too much, but sure sounds like Friday mornings/afternoons are going to be among the most stressful times for a college football coach for the 2020 season.

Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley can breathe that sigh of relief now, but the Sooners’ 48-0 win against Missouri State might not have taken place last weekend had OU had any more players testing positive or being quarantined for contact tracing with the coronavirus (COVID-19).

The Big 12 announced last Friday it will be using rapid testing for the day before the game testing only. Results are expected within 15 minutes, and it was clearly an asset for the Sooners last weekend.

“It was helpful, just to be able to get the results. We tested the whole team,” said Riley in a Zoom call Tuesday afternoon. “After testing the whole team, it probably took in the neighborhood of about two hours to have all the results, where typically, I would say on average, if we test the team at some point in the morning, we've been normally getting those results late at night. Sometimes very, very early in the morning.”

Riley said the old ways of test results could be as late as 10 p.m. to like a 2 a.m. window when results were still coming in.

Riley said speeding up the process allowed OU to give the green light to Missouri State to travel to Norman on Friday afternoon. The Bears were literally in their parking lot in Springfield, Mo., just waiting for the call.

Riley also clarified rapid testing has no affect on contact tracing, just in getting the COVID-19 test results quicker.

OU players are being tested three times a week right now – Sunday, Wednesday and Friday.

Contact tracing dilemma

If it’s not testing positive for COVID-19, it’s gonna be contact tracing that will be a thorn in OU’s side and every other team this season.

More than 20 players were missing from the two-deep depth chart Saturday, and Riley isn’t going to name names, but you get a sense a good chunk of them were about contact tracing and not about actually having the virus.

“The difficult thing with the tracing is, and we’ve had this with a few of our guys... A guy can hit on a contact trace and not have the virus,” Riley said. “And I will say the high majority of our contact trace guys have not had the virus or gotten the virus. And then can come back and hit on another contact trace. And all of a sudden, that’s 28 days. I mean, gone.

“That has been difficult because not only do you do that, but then those guys obviously haven’t got the virus and haven’t built up any type of immunity, so they’re still susceptible to hitting on a contact trace or the virus. Yea, those have been tougher.”

Giving a little insight into the issue, Riley said the issue can be as simple as just being roommates. OU has learned the hard way with dumb decisions and COVID-19, but being a roommate is something that cannot be avoided.

“We have seriously reduced our number of, I guess what you would call, contact traces that we could have avoided, doing something dumb, going to a restaurant with somebody, getting into a car with somebody,” Riley said. “We’ve really made some big improvements there.

“But the one thing that’s really tough to get around unless you just sit there at home and wear a mask all day, which is difficult for everybody to do, is the roommate situation. Of our contacts, the majority have been guys that are roommates of somebody that tested positive.”

OU fans saw how quickly things can spiral when examining the offensive line. Bill Bedenbaugh has been incredibly high on the depth, but it was nowhere to be found Saturday with so many guys out, for whatever reason.

Asked Tuesday if UCLA transfer Chris Murray could be someone who could help, OU's head coach said the appeal process is still ongoing.

“Like a lot of things we have with the NCAA right now, it’s still in process,” Riley said.

Staying mentally sharp

If it was a challenge to keep players mentally sharp when missing practice because of COVID-19 or contact tracing, it’s amplified greatly if you have to miss a game.

OU players like kicker Gabe Brkic, H-Back Brayden Willis and running back T.J. Pledger showed a good sense of humor regarding the situation, but you know they’re itching for a chance to perform.

“I would imagine it's very difficult. Hadn't had a chance to talk to all of our guys since the game, but yea, I think it's really difficult,” Riley said. “Whether you're missing it because of an injury or because you have the virus, and yeah, I think the contact guys certainly feel that pain, too.

“Everybody's worked hard to get to that point. To not be able to play in the game is a devastating thing. It always is, but especially in a season like this when you've got a limited number of games.

The mental discipline is going to be huge, but first and foremost, the medical clearance has to come before you can even start thinking of getting them back out there.

Despite the uncertainty, OU has been able to navigate the COVID-19 waters so far and returning players haven’t had any serious health issues, said Riley.

“Luckily for us, the majority of our guys have been able to come back and bounce back pretty quickly,” Riley said. “We haven't had many issues at all after the fact, whether it was a person with COVID or somebody got knocked as a contact trace. We've been very fortunate and thankful for that.”