College Football: Impact of Trevor Lawrence missing ND due to COVID-19

All throughout the country, the college football news that Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence will miss the Notre Dame game with COVID-19 had an impact.

The entire college football landscape got a huge shakeup on the afternoon of Oct. 31 with the news that the Clemson Tigers superstar junior quarterback Trevor Lawrence will miss not only this weekend’s matchup with the Boston College Eagles, and now that he’ll be out on Nov. 7 against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish too. Lawrence was announced to have tested positive for the novel coronavirus earlier this week.

This is the biggest set of games that any quarterback of any team around the entire country will miss in the season to date. It seemed manageable that head coach Dabo Swinney and this Clemson team would be without Lawrence this weekend against Boston College.

But even Boston College gave the Tigers a good scare on the afternoon of Oct. 31, taking them down to the wire in an eventual 34-28 win for Swinney’s side. If not for the efforts of star running back Travis Etienne this weekend (registering more than 220 total yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns), Boston College likely would’ve pulled off the upset to Clemson.

Now that Lawrence is out for the Notre Dame game next weekend, the complete landscape of the ACC could be namely in the hands of former five-star recruit and true freshman quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei. Notre Dame is likely to be ranked as a top three or four team in the major polls next week. And they won’t be easy to push aside for a Lawrence-less Clemson team.

Prior to Lawrence testing positive for COVID-19, he registered 1,833 passing yards, 17 passing touchdowns, just two interceptions, just over 70 rushing yards, and four rushing scores. Missing him against Notre Dame could be the little bit of a push that the they need to get what would originally be considered an upset win over the defending ACC Champions.

What does this all mean for not just Clemson, but the entirety of FBS college football?

This situation shows for a team like the Texas Longhorns that your star quarterback can be gone at any time given how fast a lot of these COVID-19 cases go around. Texas ever being without senior star quarterback Sam Ehlinger due to an active COVID-19 case could make this season even more difficult than it already is for fourth-year head coach Tom Herman.

And assuming that the No. 6 ranked and undefeated Oklahoma State Cowboys hold off a potential upset bid from the Longhorns this weekend, then this shakeup could also help the Big 12 work its way further into the College Football Playoff picture. Chaos in any of the other Power Five conferences could help the Big 12, who is greatly in danger of cannibalizing itself.

Moreover, this Lawrence news in general shows just how weird this college football season is in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. One slight bit of news can alter the entire picture of the conference and national champions for the current season.

Clemson now has a record of 6-0 (5-0 ACC), after taking care of business against Boston College by a narrow six-point margin on Oct. 31. Missing Lawrence could greatly alter both the outlook for their season and how the entire College Football Playoff picture shakes out.