CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly and Clemson counterpart Dabo Swinney both expressed concerns about taking part in the Rose Bowl – a College Football Playoff semifinal this season – if players’ families aren’t allowed to attend the New Year’s Day game in Pasadena, California.
Kelly even went as far as to say “I’m not sure we’ll play in the playoffs if the parents can’t be there.”
The Rose Bowl announced earlier this month that due to COVID-19-related restrictions put in place by the state of California, no fans will be allowed at the game. The coaches’ comments came during a videoconference call Friday on the eve of the Atlantic Coast Conference game in Charlotte, a rematch of the Nov. 7 matchup in which Kelly’s Fighting Irish beat Swinney’s Tigers 47-40 in double overtime.
The Irish (10-0), whose full participation in the ACC this season is another effect of the pandemic, will try to keep Clemson (9-1) from winning its sixth straight conference title, and the game is also central to the four-team playoff. The pairings will be announced Sunday as bowl selections are finalized, and the Irish are No. 2 in the most recent CFP rankings, with the Tigers third.
“Why would we play if you can’t have families at the game?” Kelly said. “If you can’t have families at bowl games, why would you go to a game where your families can’t be part of it? What’s the sense of playing a game in an area of the country where nobody can be part of it?”
Swinney suggested the game should be moved to another location if families aren’t allowed to attend.
“Whether we’re in (the game) or whoever is in it, I don’t care – it makes no sense to me to put a bunch of kids on a plane and fly them all the way to California to play in an empty stadium,” Swinney said. “That makes zero sense when you have plenty of stadiums where you can have fans and, most importantly, you can have families.”
AP photo by Matt Cashore /Notre Dame running back Kyren Williams (23) fends off Clemson safety Nolan Turner on his way to a touchdown on Nov. 7 in South Bend, Ind.Swinney pointed out that each player’s family receives a $2,500 stipend to attend games, and the coach said he believes the families of all four playoff teams should have the same opportunity to watch in person. The other CFP semifinal is the Sugar Bowl, which will be held the night of Jan. 1 in New Orleans. The CFP title game is Jan. 11 in Miami Gardens, Florida.
“This is a year where everyone has had to make adjustments, and (moving the game), to me, would be a pretty simple one to make,” Swinney said.
Kelly agreed.
“Why can’t it be the Rose Bowl in Las Vegas or can it be the Rose Bowl in another town?” Kelly said. “Where’s the flexibility for the student-athlete is all I’m saying. The one thing these kids have been is incredibly flexible, and then on the other side we can’t be flexible? It’s hard to imagine.”
Kelly said he’s only echoing the concerns of his players.
“I’m not the guy out there making this up, because it’s not about my family,” Kelly said. “It’s about their family, so I’m a voice for our team, and they’re concerned. They’re focused on the ACC championship. That’s where their focus is. They’re not going to be speaking about these things. But if in fact we’re selected to be a part of it, this will then be No. 1 on their radar, so then I’ll have to address it with our leaders as to how they feel about this.”
Kelly said his players have been on campus since June and haven’t seen their families much at all.
“They’ve had to fight through COVID, some of them have had COVID,” Kelly said. “They can’t be around their families for Christmas, and you’re going to tell me we’re going to have a playoff and maybe one site can have families and the other can’t? Please.
“Somebody’s got to wake up in that room and figure this out or you might as well call this the professional league. I am so sick and tired of this playoff committee talking about having sites where you can’t have parents at and their families. It’s ridiculous.”
The CFP selection committee does not control where the game will be played. That’s up to the management committee, which is made up of the 10 Football Bowl Subdivision conference commissioners and Jack Swarbrick, Notre Dame’s athletic director.