SEC announces cancellation policies for 2021-22 athletics year, including forfeit rules
SEC teams will have to forfeit a game if they are unable to participate due to "unavailability issues" that includes COVID-19 related absences, the conference announced Monday.
The league announced its full cancellation policy, stating that a team forced to forfeit games will earn a loss in the conference standings, while its opponent would earn a win. If both teams are unavailable to participate, both teams will forfeit and earn a loss, according to a league statement.
Any conference tiebreaker rules will apply as normal, the conference said, with commissioner Greg Sankey retaining "discretion to declare a "no contest" for any event if extraordinary circumstances warrant."
Two SEC regular-season football games were canceled last season — Georgia vs. Vanderbilt and Ole Miss vs. Texas A&M — and were declared no-contests. The forfeit policy is new for this season.
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