Brilliant!But did they? There are countless schools that have dealt with multiple positive tests (not just one, as with Coastal) and they were able to play the games. How? These programs (including ours) properly executed the "distancing protocols" and therefore were not subject to losing large swaths of players due to the contact tracing mandate. If it is in fact true that these players (all of the D-Lineman on the roster) should properly be declared ineligible to play due to contact tracing (player contact with the D-line coach that tested positive on Thursday after a negative test Wednesday), this is the fault of the Coastal Carolina football program for failure to execute the proper procedures and constraints.
Do I think that the contact tracing mandate was violated with all of their D-Lineman? My "guess" is that they did not violate this mandate and that they simply do not want this game for a plethora of reasons (including Chadwell's contract tracing ... pun intended). And in a day and age when the public is hypersensitive about Covid, the Coastal program is not going to be held to account (and asked the hard questions) for making the decision that they did. There are people out there that simply want the economy and all activity to cease ... and this plays right into all of it.
Thus, if the contact tracing mandate was legitimately violated, then this is the fault and responsibility of the Coastal football program. As such, Coastal Carolina is to blame regardless of what you believe happened.
Another opinion of mine ... if the Sun Belt had the championship game rules instituted by the Pac-12 (meaning App State would be playing the Cajuns in the title game if Coastal was unavailable to play), I have no doubt that we would be playing this game against Coastal Carolina this afternoon.
Brian
Brilliance is recognized by its obviousness heretofore unnoticed.