‘This game was not canceled because of COVID. COVID was just an excuse to cancel the game’, an angry Dabo Swinney said Sunday night, saying that his Clemson team met the medical standard to play against Florida State and believes the Seminoles called off the game because of reasons other than COVID-19.
The fourth-ranked Tigers had arrived in Tallahassee, Florida, on Friday when they learned a reserve offensive lineman had tested positive in the team’s latest testing.
Clemson quickly isolated the unidentified player and sent him back to campus.
Swinney said players had eaten breakfast under a large ‘Ringling Brothers’ circus-type tent in their hotel parking lot for final preparations when they learned they would not play.
‘We listened to our medical folks and their assessment of the risk and we decided it wasn’t safe to play today’, said Florida State athletic director David Coburn.
‘To me the Florida State administration forfeited the game and if they want to play Clemson, in my opinion, they need to come to Clemson or they need to pay for all expenses’, Swinney said.
‘Other than that, there’s no reason for us to play them’.
Swinney said he’s attending medical meetings where procedures for a late positive test were discussed and debated, and travel rosters were expanded for such reasons.
