Ole Miss 'doing the best that we can to manage' as omicron surges across college football

Dec. 27—OXFORD — In a few ways, the Sugar Bowl experience feels a lot like the last bowl season did for Ole Miss.

Last season, the Rebels faced Indiana in the Outback Bowl during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The bowl week experience was different than it normally might be with later arrivals and fewer events for players.

And, after a year of semi-normalcy in college football, the No. 8 Rebels (10-2 overall, 6-2 SEC) find themselves in an eerily similar place.

Ole Miss, originally scheduled to travel to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl on Sunday, pushed their departure back to Wednesday amid the latest surge of the omicron variant.

Coach Lane Kiffin was asked whether any players on his team were sitting out of practice or in danger of missing the Sugar Bowl due to COVID. Without diving into specifics, he answered, "Yeah, we do" and that the team was "doing the best that we can to manage" protocols.

After largely avoiding interruptions during the regular season, five bowl games have already been canceled or had teams drop out due to positive COVID cases. The Rebels are fully vaccinated, Kiffin said over the summer, and players arrived back in town from holiday travel Sunday.

"They've got two years of hearing and worrying about what you can control, and they certainly can't control COVID, whether that's changing games or how early you go to games and stuff like that," Kiffin said. "We worry about what we can control. I think they've started to understand that, and this would fall into that."

Kiffin and Baylor coach Dave Aranda both opted to push their teams' departures back a few days so as to limit potential outside exposure. Baylor is also scheduled to arrive in New Orleans on Wednesday.

During the regular season, SEC rules said vaccinated players did not have to be tested regularly if they were asymptomatic. The College Football Playoff changed its protocols last week, however, outlining potential scenarios for forfeits and postponements. It also moved media availability virtually and gave teams the option to arrive later and not participate in traditional events.

"Ideally, from a COVID standpoint, we would come in like a road game, the night before. Just think about it, why are you going to go somewhere early, have your kids walking around a different city around different people," Kiffin said. "Picture a week of walking around Bourbon Street and everything. I don't think that that's really up there high on COVID protocol."

According to Sports Illustrated's Ross Dellenger, "Most college athletic departments curtailed weekly COVID-19 testing over the summer as they reached a high-enough vaccination level. At many schools, only unvaccinated or symptomatic athletes and coaches are regularly tested. Many programs also ended mitigation tactics such as wearing masks and social distancing."

The recent surge due to omicron has increased testing, however.

"We're following the protocols, really, that we've had since the beginning of the year. And I think it has served us well up to this point," Aranda, who said his team has a "very high" vaccination rate, said.

The increase in positive cases and cancelations did not ultimately change plans to let players from either team go home over Christmas, however.

"Our super power, if there is one, is relationships. It's people, it's family." Aranda said. "It's really caring about others. And I think, for us, to have a Christmas with our families is really important."

MICHAEL KATZ is the Ole Miss athletics reporter for the Daily Journal. Contact him at michael.katz@djournal.com.