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DAILY COVID-19 THREAD: Monday, November 30

• All thoughts on COVID, statistics, speculation, updates, etc. should be posted in the daily thread.

• COVID threads that pop up separately on the board will be merged into our daily thread — with the exception of sports news items that are related to COVID (school testing updates, announcements, etc.). These can have their own threads but our staff has final discretion.

• As always, political posts – whether in the COVID thread or not – will be deleted.

Another successful week for the 9-0 ND football team was completed with the 31-17 victory at No. 19 North Carolina. Everyone in the two deep was available. Can the actual 11-game regular season through Dec. 12 be finished?

Football Kyren Williams, Liam Eichenberg Among ACC Players Of The Week At A Position

QUARTERBACK – Trevor Lawrence, Clemson, Jr., QB, Cartersville, Ga.
Completed 26-of-37 passes for 403 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions in a 52-17 win over Pitt, improving to 32-1 as a starter to tie Rodney Williams, Tajh Boyd and Deshaun Watson for the school record for wins as a starting quarterback • It was his second career 400-yard passing day, ending one yard shy of his career high of 404 passing yards set earlier this season at Georgia Tech.

RUNNING BACK – Kyren Williams, Notre Dame, So., RB, Saint Louis, Mo.
Recorded 23 rushes for 124 yards and two touchdowns and four receptions for 20 yards and a touchdown in No. 2 Notre Dame’s 31-17 victory over No. 19 North Carolina • Williams’ three touchdowns ranked tied for third among all FBS players on the weekend, and was the only FBS player with three or more touchdowns this weekend to have at least one receiving and one rushing touchdown • Friday marked Williams’ fifth 100-yard rushing performance of the season, which ties for most in the ACC.

RECEIVER – Cornell Powell, Clemson, Sr., WR, Greenville, N.C.
Recorded six receptions for a career-high 176 receiving yards, tied for the 10th-most receiving yards in a game in Clemson history, in a 52-17 win over Pitt • Registered his third consecutive 100-yard receiving game to tie a school record shared by Charlie Waters (1969), Tony Horne (1997), Rod Gardner (2000), DeAndre Hopkins (2012) and Sammy Watkins (2013) • Became only the third Clemson player ever to record back-to-back 150-yard receiving games, joining DeAndre Hopkins in 2012 and Sammy Watkins in 2013.

CO-OFFENSIVE LINEMAN – Zach Quinney, Georgia Tech, Jr., LT, Savannah, Ga.
Quinney helped pave the way for Georgia Tech to rush for 377 yards in Tech’s 56-33 win over Duke • The Yellow Jackets had their highest rushing- and total-yardage (523 yards) outputs since 2018 at North Carolina • Behind the Quinney-led offensive front, Georgia Tech had three players with at least 90 rushing yards (Jeff Sims – 108, Jordan Mason – 105 and Jahmyr Gibbs – 91) and four with at least 60 yards on the ground (including Dontae Smith – 60) • Quinney delivered key blocks on each of the Yellow Jackets’ four touchdown runs, all of which went for 20 yards or more (61 and 22 yards by Gibbs and 36 and 22 yards by Smith).

CO-OFFENSIVE LINEMAN – Liam Eichenberg, Notre Dame, Gr., LT, Cleveland, Ohio
Led an offensive line that paved the way for 478 yards of total offense (199 rushing with three touchdowns, 279 passing with one touchdown) and 35:04 time of possession in a 31-17 win over No. 19 North Carolina • The Fighting Irish have now won the time of possession battle in eight of nine games this season and average 34:12 per game, which continues to lead the ACC by more than two minutes per game, and ranks 10th among all FBS teams • The Irish posted four touchdown drives of at least 75 yards Friday, including a season-long 97-yard scoring drive.

DEFENSIVE LINEMAN – Jordan Domineck, Georgia Tech, So., DE, Lakeland, Fla.
Domineck stuffed the stat sheet with two sacks, 2.5 tackles for loss, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and his first career touchdown in Georgia Tech’s 56-33 win over Duke • Helped lead a defensive effort that limited Duke to just 68 rushing yards • His two sacks and 2.5 TFL were both career highs • Made arguably the biggest play of the game when he sacked Duke QB Chase Brice in the end zone, forcing a fumble that he recovered for a touchdown that gave Georgia Tech a 28-23 lead late in the first half • Domineck was also credited with a QB hurry in the win.

LINEBACKER – Payton Wilson, NC State, So., LB, Hillsborough, N.C.
Key factor behind the Wolfpack holding Syracuse to just three rushing yards - the lowest opponent total in a game since 2015 and the lowest in an ACC contest since 2011 • The Orange had just 257 yards of total offense • Led the Wolfpack in tackles with 10, including eight solo stops • Made arguably the biggest play of the game in the final seconds when he sacked the QB for an 11-yard loss • Wilson is the league's leading tackler with 10.8 stops per game, which ranks 17th in the FBS.

DEFENSIVE BACK – Mario Goodrich, Clemson, Jr., CB, Kansas City, Mo.
Made his first career start and recorded two interceptions, becoming the first Clemson player to pick off two passes in a single game since Cordrea Tankersley in the 2016 ACC Championship Game against Virginia Tech • Part of a Clemson defense that picked off Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett four times after Pickett had entered the game with only four interceptions in 259 pass attempts this year.

SPECIALIST – Trebor Pena, Syracuse, Fr., KR, Ocean Township, N.J.
Pena took an NC State kickoff back 98 yards for a touchdown in what was Syracuse’s longest kickoff return since 2011 • Pena recorded the Orange’s first points of the game on his first return attempt • He finished the day with 115 return yards on two kick returns.

ROOKIE – Jeff Sims, Georgia Tech, Fr., QB, Jacksonville, Fla.
Sims rushed for 108 yards and threw for three touchdowns to help lead Georgia Tech to its highest offensive output in more than two years in a 56-33 win over Duke • Became only the ninth FBS player this season and the first freshman (true or redshirt) to rush for 100 yards and pass for three touchdowns in a game this season • His 108 rushing yards and three touchdowns were both career highs and came on just 12 carries (9.0 avg.) • 107 of his 108 rushing yards and two of his three touchdown passes came in the second half, as the Yellow Jackets stretched their two-point halftime lead (28-26) into the decisive 23-point victory.

OT: Crazy idea, but let’s get real - it’s 2020

My biggest concern the rest of the regular season is that a team with nothing to play for - looking at you Syracuse and Wake - either screws up and ND is left with a month off before the ACCCG due to cancelled games and gets rusty...or gets lazy with Covid protocols and causes ND to have another outbreak, leaving them not only with a few weeks off, but a few weeks with limited practice time. Seriously, what incentive do their players, or players at mid or bottom tier teams in any league have to continue following the restrictions that are imposed on them, other than just the love of the game? It’s a free year eligibility-wise anyway.

In that vein, let’s quit pretending. ND has a max of 5 games left with the current schedule (Cuse, Wake, ACCCG, semifinal, championship). Same with Bama, OSU, etc. Have the CFP take the top 32 teams and invite them all to Jerry World, or Miami, or Glendale - and institute a bubble. Then do it World Cup style - divide into 8 pods of 4 teams and play round robin (3 games). With last weeks rankings, it would have been ND, Georgia, Texas, and the 31st ranked team in a pod. Then, take the top 2 teams from each pod after the round robin and seed them based on final CFP ranking in a 16 team playoff. The champion and runner-up would play 4 games in that playoff, so this means only a handful of teams would play a longer season than they would anyway without this plan - and even though that season would be longer by 2020 standards, it would be the normal season length for a CFP champion.

Admit it - this makes sense and would be super cool. The kids aren’t back in class until February, so this is basically a choice of sitting on campus vs. being in a bubble. No one misses classes, even with a week between games, and with no more travel and instituting a bubble, it’s better for players’ and coaches’ health too. It would give schools a chance to recoup TV money, and would actually save schools who didn’t make it money (no need to travel, pay for refs) by skipping remaining games. Also, we can just quit with this charade that the 2020 football season has become for some schools.

Tony Grimes vs Clarence Lewis

Finally, had a chance to watch and "re-watch" it again... slow Sunday. During the telecast, Kirk Herbstreit mentioned that Tony Grimes for UNC was the #1 CB in the country (per some recruiting website). Checked on rivals and he was actually the #3 Rivals CB and 5 star corner for 2020. During the game, Ian had a field day throwing it his way. It was money most of the day for Ian. Even the announcers noted this. Not once did Grimes try to TURN his head and try to track the ball. One play that stood out was the corner bomb that Ian attempted to throw to Wilkins. Pass interference all the way. This reminded me of a ND corner with similar accolades... ala Clifford Jefferson - dreaded #15. You just hope and pray no one throws his way.

On the flip side, Notre Dame's Clarence Lewis was the #84 ranked Cornerback and a Rival's 3 star. Man, his name was not mentioned once during the telecast. For much of the game, he either shut down his side of the field or had a lot of help. And, when they threw his way, I don't think he got burned once. Reminds me of 2012 when a FRESHMAN (K. Russell) stepped up and held his own for ND. However, I think Lewis might be better technique wise. Most of the year, I noticed that he TURNS his head, tracks the ball, and defends the play. No wonder he is a starter over Bracy. It is great to know that Kelly's team will have Lewis holding down one side of the field for the next few years.
Also, it shows that star ratings are not always right. Kudos to our coaches for finding the right players and developing them. Go Irish, beat Syracuse!!

*** Programming Notes For This Week...

1. I'm going to be flying to Richmond tomorrow to see 2021 DL Kelvin Gilliam and potentially 2022 WR Andre Greene Jr. tomorrow, so our Monday night Irish Huddle Live Show is cancelled. Instead, Patrick and Lou will post a traditional podcast. I'm also going to post The Gold Standard Tuesday morning instead of Monday.

2. Mason Plummer and I will host our recruiting live show at 8 p.m. ET. Please plan to tune in or watch it back later in the week. It should be a lot of fun!

3. I was in Florida for Thanksgiving and saw new OL commit Caleb Johnson on my way back to Atlanta Saturday. This morning I saw a few ND recruits at Tom Lemming's Photoshoot and tomorrow I'm in Virginia. So I'm pretty beat and I'm sure I've missed some questions that have popped up the past few days. If you have anything for me go ahead and post them in this thread.
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