The Conference USA (C-USA) Board of Directors has officially approved their plan for the upcoming football season, as well as the required safety protocols. 

𝐂-𝐔𝐒𝐀 𝐁𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐀𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐑𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲

Release: https://t.co/DgQ5S7uFJy

— Conference USA (@ConferenceUSA) August 7, 2020

According to the release, “The 2020 C-USA football schedule calls for each of the league’s teams to play eight conference games on their originally scheduled dates.” 

FAU’s eight conference games this season are Oct. 3 vs Charlotte, Oct. 10 at Southern Miss, Oct. 24 at Marshall, Oct. 31 vs University of Texas at San Antonio, Nov. 7 vs Western Kentucky, Nov. 14 at FIU, Nov. 21 vs Old Dominion, and Nov. 28 at Middle Tennessee. 

The press release also stated that “non-conference games may be played at the discretion of the individual schools, with the ability to play up to four non-league contests.” 

The Owls currently have two non-conference games scheduled for the season. The only non-conference games remaining on FAU’s schedule is at Georgia Southern on Sept. 19 and at home against the University of South Florida on Sept. 26. Their first two out of conference games against Minnesota and Stony Brook have already been canceled. 

With the guidelines set by C-USA, the Owls still have two vacancies on their 2020 schedule. 

“I don’t have any information on [the schedule],” head coach Willie Taggart said at his press conference yesterday. “[The] only schedule that I know, is this training camp schedule.” 

C-USA also announced that the conference championship game is still scheduled for its original date of Dec. 5. According to the press release, there is some flexibility in the schedule if the game needs to be moved to a later date due to potentially rescheduled regular season games. 

The C-USA Board of Directors also approved return to play safety measures for fall sports. 

There will be “required testing standards for Conference USA schools and the requirement that opponents operate by the same standards,” according to the press release. 

FAU has already implemented safety measures of its own to keep the players and coaching staff safe. The team is broken up into two separate groups. Only one group is on the practice field at a time and the team is not allowed to have full team meetings in person. 

“When they come to our building, there [are] certain doors they walk through and doors they exit through,” Taggart said. “Our guys have done a great job of wearing their masks. We can’t have our full team meeting at one time, so there’s been an adjustment from that standpoint.” 

The conference’s Board of Directors also said they are committed to “ensuring the accountability of all athletic programs and affirmed their commitment to follow and actively monitor testing and safety protocols and accurately report testing results.”

Since returning to campus, the Owls have been testing their players at least once a week and have plans in place if a player or a staff member were to test positive for the coronavirus. 

“The plan is to test our guys weekly to make sure we’re looking out for them and everyone else that’s here,” Taggart said. “We have in place when someone tests positive, they go into quarantine and get them away from everyone and make sure we can do everything to help them while they quarantine.” 

With fall camp in full swing, the Owls now have some clarity on what their season could potentially look like this fall. Questions remain if FAU will be able to add two more out of conference matchups for this season. 

Now that FAU has more clarity on the season, the battle for the starting quarterback job will start heating up after the announcement Tuesday that starter Chris Robison is no longer with the team. 

“We don’t have a number one,” Taggart said. “All of them are number one now and they’re all competing for the job. Those guys have been working really hard and [are] excited to compete for the job.” 

Jensen Jennings is the sports editor for the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him @Jensen_Jennings.