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Florida pauses football-related activities due to coronavirus outbreak

Florida is currently set to host LSU this week.

Florida vs Texas A&M Photo by Tim Casey/Collegiate Images/Getty Images

On Monday, Missouri vs. Vanderbilt became the SEC’s first game to be postponed due to the coronavirus this season.

It looks like we could have another SEC game affected this week due to the virus.

Today, the Florida Gators announced they have paused all football-related activities due to an outbreak of the virus within the team. That would seemingly put Saturday’s clash with the LSU Tigers in serious jeopardy. The game is currently set to kick off Saturday in Gainesville at 4 pm EST on ESPN.

It’s still unclear how many Florida players have tested positive for the virus. Beat writer Payton Titus reported it was 19 confirmed cases but has since said that number may be too high.

Ironically, this comes right after Florida head coach Dan Mullen said he wanted to see Ben Hill Griffin Stadium packed this week when LSU comes to town. State reopening guidelines under Florida Governor Ron DeSantis are now allowing for Florida-based sports teams to have full stadium capacity going forward. That means Florida could have had around 90,000 fans show up for Saturday’s matchup with the defending national champions.

I think it’s safe to say that would have been a horrifically-bad idea.