Georgia-Mississippi State to play even with Mississippi State reportedly having more positive tests
DawgNation has confirmed with a source that the Georgia-Mississippi State game will still be played this weekend.
But it has not been an easy road to get to this point, specifically from the Mississippi State side. According to a report from Matt Zenitz of Al.com, Mississippi State will have fewer than 53 scholarship players available for this game due in part to the number of opt-outs, transfers and positive COVID tests the program has had.
Mississippi State will be playing with less than 53 scholarship players available https://t.co/h51ZkL0Mam
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) November 20, 2020
That number is the minimum number of scholarship players a school must have for a game to be played. However, a school can choose to play even if it has below those numbers. Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz revealed this week that his team is right at 53 available scholarship players as his team takes on South Carolina.
Georgia’s game against Missouri last week was postponed due to COVID-19 and contact tracing with the Tigers. A make-up game has not yet been announced for the two schools, though Dec. 19 exists as a possible date.
Earlier this week, Georgia coach Kirby Smart did express some confidence that the game would be played between the two sides.
“We certainly are confident that we are going to be able to play Mississippi State. We feel good about where we are,” Smart said on Monday. “We feel good about where they are. That’s communicated, so we feel good about playing.”
The Ole Miss-Texas A&M game for this weekend has already been postponed. There were four games last weekend that were postponed as well including both Georgia’s and Mississippi State’s respective games.
It was also announced on Friday that Tennessee athletic director Phillip Fulmer tested positive for COVID-19 as well.
— Phillip Fulmer (@phillipfulmer) November 20, 2020
Georgia has not played since taking on Florida on Nov. 7. Georgia and Mississippi State are set to kickoff at 7:30 p.m. ET and the game will be on the SEC Network.
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