This week, Quierra Luck and Chaunte'l Powell talk about college football's return and the ramifications of its return.
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00:00What's going on, everyone?
00:01It's Chantel Powell with Sports Illustrated's Gamecock Digest,
00:04joined, as always, by the wonderful Kiara Luck
00:07of all Tar Heels.
00:08And this is another episode of Carolina Connection.
00:10You know, we left you without another pod episode to step to,
00:14but we're back.
00:15And we've got football to talk about.
00:17Kiara, how have you guys been?
00:18Because y'all are kind of, like, in your season,
00:20in your season.
00:22We are.
00:23This is, like, week three, allegedly.
00:26But to hear Coach Mack Brown say it next week
00:29against Boston College, October 3rd,
00:31it'll be the start of a new week.
00:32Because the last two weeks, Carolina has been on a bye.
00:37We had Charlotte two weeks ago, but they
00:40had to cancel due to COVID.
00:43And this week was the official bye week, September 26th.
00:47So North Carolina has essentially just been
00:50practicing for Boston College.
00:51They've been preparing, watching film,
00:53and realizing that this season really is a special season.
00:57Week after week, something could change.
01:00And it's kind of refreshing to see these kids mature
01:04this season and grow in what we've
01:08been saying all year long, almost.
01:11Uncharted, unprecedented times this year, yeah.
01:16And just out of curiosity, like, how do they kind of manage that?
01:19Because it's like the season starts over, basically,
01:21for y'all, who've only played one game.
01:23To hear Sam Howell say it, they've
01:25been constantly communicating with each other,
01:28keeping the team morale high, and just making sure
01:32that every practice matters.
01:33So there is no relaxing just because there's a bye week
01:36or because someone canceled.
01:38You never know when someone could pick up a game.
01:40So just making sure that they keep their blinders on
01:43and stay in focus on the end goal, which is a championship.
01:47OK, cool, cool.
01:48And here in South Carolina, first game was yesterday.
01:51Gamecocks lost a heartbreaker, 31-27 to Tennessee.
01:56Not a whole lot of issues so far.
01:59I don't think there were any reported cases,
02:01and nobody needed to quarantine.
02:03Tennessee, I think, had some issues the other week.
02:06But I've since gotten things cleared up.
02:09It's just kind of interesting to watch within the SEC,
02:12because as we said a couple episodes ago,
02:15every team is in a hot spot.
02:16So you have teams like LSU has kind of been hit pretty hard.
02:21The Texas, Florida, you always got to monitor.
02:24You got to monitor Georgia.
02:25Because I remember, not SEC, but I think it was Georgia State.
02:30Forgive me, because I know State versus Southern,
02:32that's a serious matter.
02:34But it was one of those Georgia teams
02:36that had like 33 people unable to play because of it.
02:40So it's going to be interesting to watch that.
02:42And just the quality of play, because I
02:45know like the Alabama-Arkansas, no, excuse me.
02:49It was a SEC matchup.
02:51They were talking about there's more parity now,
02:54because COVID kind of equals the playing field.
02:57And it's like, parity at what cost, though?
03:01Because the whole point of this was
03:03to kind of put the best product on the field for entertainment
03:07purposes.
03:08So if you're kind of going with this,
03:10where now we're just going with whoever
03:13we have just for the sake of having football,
03:16I'm going to be interested to see how fans react to this
03:19as the season progresses.
03:20And your power teams aren't as dominant
03:24as you usually expect them.
03:26Are y'all seeing that in the ACC?
03:29Girl, first of all, that comment just really does not
03:35sit well in my soul to hear that.
03:38But, um.
03:39The parity?
03:40Yeah, that's a whole other subject.
03:43But I think for Carolina, they are definitely,
03:48and I hate even to put it in this space,
03:52but making sure your second and third strings are always ready.
03:57They're definitely playing the stars of the team.
04:01They're getting their reps.
04:02But absolutely making sure that everybody
04:05is ready, because you never know what's going to happen.
04:08You never know who's going to get sick.
04:10You never know who's going to be out.
04:12So everybody has to be ready.
04:14Coach Brown even said a few weeks ago,
04:15before I believe the season even started,
04:18is making sure that players know more than one position.
04:20Exactly.
04:21So your secondary is going to know
04:22all the secondary positions.
04:24And it's just making sure that whoever has to go in can go.
04:28There is no time to filter or to see, are you ready?
04:33There are no questions.
04:35It's a be ready season.
04:37Yeah.
04:38Yeah, that parity thing does not sit well in my soul
04:41to hear that.
04:42Because like you said, at what cost are we doing this?
04:47But any who, we'll probably get back to that one of these days.
04:53And that spills over into basketball season,
04:56because you mentioned that they're
04:57trying to do a bubble scenario with tournaments.
05:01Right, so I do know for sure, and I
05:03believe there's a couple of others,
05:06but the Maui Invitational will be held in Asheville, North
05:09Carolina, November 26.
05:13I'm lying to you.
05:13No, I'm not.
05:14It's November 30 through December 2.
05:17And it'll be held at the Hurrah Cherokee Center.
05:21And it'll be a bubble.
05:22Now, what that looks like, we don't have exact details.
05:26I don't know if that's players in media,
05:28or if it's just players, or if it's just
05:30players and their family, or if everyone is invited.
05:33You just have to quarantine for a certain amount of days
05:36or get COVID tests.
05:37We're not sure exactly what bubble sites look like.
05:41But we do see that the basketball team is definitely
05:47looking at the NBA and mimicking it.
05:49That's the best route that anybody can take at this point,
05:52is whatever Adam Silver did, literally copy and paste.
05:57That's it.
05:58Just copy and paste whatever Adam Silver did.
06:01If you want a season, we have to do everything possible
06:04to protect these kids and make sure
06:06that everyone is good to go.
06:07Because we still don't know anything about COVID.
06:11We don't know the ramifications of anybody.
06:15Everybody is different.
06:16So I think bubble sites are the best way to go.
06:21But I do want to flip back to football a little bit.
06:25Roy Cooper, North Carolina's governor,
06:27will allow fans at 7% capacity.
06:31So yeah.
06:33But the cardboard cutouts, though.
06:36I know.
06:37That was the best part of the season.
06:39But they're getting rid of the cardboard cutouts.
06:42And they're allowing fans, I believe, at 7% capacity.
06:46So yeah.
06:49OK, well.
06:50That allows for more team family members
06:52to be there and a sprinkle of fans.
06:55How they're going to do tickets, I do not know.
06:59Good luck.
07:00Basically, the hunger game so far.
07:02South Carolina, obviously, had 20-some-odd percent.
07:06And that was one of the things they were commenting on,
07:08how it sounded like a regular season game.
07:11Because you couldn't tell how many people were there,
07:15even with them spaced out and staggered and stuff.
07:17So the energy is still good.
07:19The players felt it.
07:21I know that means a lot to them.
07:22So I'm happy that they get some semblance of normalcy
07:27this season.
07:28Going back to the bubble.
07:31Also, the WNBA model.
07:33Playoffs are still going.
07:35Asia Wilson got it done.
07:37Her, Angel McCautry, they got the win against the Connecticut
07:40Sun tonight.
07:41Well, it's Sunday when we're recording.
07:43So they got the win, tied the series up.
07:46And it's all or nothing next game.
07:49So the reigning MVP is out here showing
07:52why she's the reigning MVP.
07:55Unfortunately, today, rookie Makia Herbert-Harrigan
07:58and the Minnesota Lynx were eliminated.
08:00They were swept by the Seattle Storm.
08:02So they were playing without Sylvia Fowles.
08:06It was an uphill battle.
08:07But they fought hard all season.
08:10I know in other WNBA news, Ty Harris is already overseas.
08:14Her season ended last Tuesday.
08:17Just get ready.
08:18I'm done.
08:19Let's go.
08:19Get this bag.
08:21You know, because I look up and she's posting pictures,
08:24talking about, yeah, I'm in Turkey.
08:26And I was like, wait, what?
08:29Never stop chasing a bag.
08:31No, it don't stop.
08:33So shout out to her.
08:35Shout out to all the players heading to those teams
08:38overseas now, just praying for health.
08:43Because that grind, year in and year out,
08:46just playing year-round basketball,
08:48not everybody can do it.
08:50So just hopefully all of them stay safe.
08:52And we can get the WNBA season back on regular schedule.
08:57Because it's going to be a good one next year.
08:59Yeah, absolutely.
09:01Now that you mention it, I have seen a lot of Carolina players
09:04start to head overseas.
09:05So I'm assuming that overseas basketball
09:08is starting to pick up again.
09:10It'll definitely be interesting to see
09:12what that looks like in an international aspect.
09:16So, yeah.
09:18I think it'll be fine because we're the only ones that's not good.
09:21Like, we're the ones not allowed to go places.
09:24And on that note, thank you.
09:27Thank you for tuning in to Carolina Connection.
09:30I think I'm going to have to wrap this one up.
09:32So thank you, guys.
09:34And we will catch you next week on Carolina Connection.