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FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas - and the status of its game against LSU on Saturday - is in a holding pattern.
The first two rounds of COVID-19 testing this week, which were taken Sunday and Tuesday, have left the Razorbacks thin, but they haven’t dipped below the SEC’s thresholds for a postponement.
Speaking to local media during his weekly Thursday afternoon Zoom video conference, head coach Sam Pittman told reporters that the 11 a.m. kickoff against the Tigers is still on as scheduled.
“We’re going to play Saturday, as of right now,” Pittman said. “We’re going to play. We have a test that we took today that gets back tomorrow. I’m just going to tell you the truth, we’re running thin. We want to play the game, but you have to have adequate numbers to play the game and we are thin.”
Before the season, the SEC established a minimum threshold of at least 53 available scholarship players to play a football game. That number must include at least seven offensive linemen (with at least one center), four defensive linemen and one quarterback.
Pittman did not specify if the Razorbacks are “thin” at a particular position or in total number of players in general, but he did say they’ve had to “make a few adjustments” in practice and compared it to when you have injuries.
Through opt outs, injuries and transfers, Arkansas has just 73 of 85 scholarship players available the rest of the season. That means only 20 players could go into quarantine without the Razorbacks dipping below the 53-man mark, and that doesn’t factor in the positional thresholds.
The final round of testing was Thursday and Arkansas will get those results back Friday morning. That is when it will learn if any more players will be out because of a positive test or contact tracing.
Pittman reiterated several times during his response to a question about the team’s COVID-19 situation that the Razorbacks will make every effort to play Saturday’s game against LSU.
“If we have a good test tomorrow, then by golly we’re going to play the game,” Pittman said. “We want to play the game. We have not talked to our players one second about not playing the game because we want to play the game. They want to play, so as long as our numbers will allow us to play, that’s what we’re going to do.”
