Cowboy Football’s Taking the Necessary Steps To Stay Healthy Ahead of the Fiesta Bowl

With each passing day, the sports world takes another step back due to the current surge of COVID-19 cases. NBA and NFL games are getting pushed back, the Oklahoma State men’s and women’s basketball teams have had to adjust schedules the past few weeks due to shutdowns and quarantines and bowl games are getting canceled left and right.

Pokes Report had an article last week mentioning how Cowboy football had started implementing safety protocols once again, holding meetings outside whenever possible, everyone wearing masks and the cleaning of facilities and distancing once more.

Head coach Mike Gundy spoke with the media Monday afternoon and talked about what the Pokes are doing out in Arizona to try and stay safe.

Related: Cowboy football Fiesta Bowl practice schedule

"We are masked up in meetings, we're masked on buses," Cowboys head coach Mike Gundy said during Monday’s Zoom press conference. "Our team meetings are outside, they're not in the facility. We moved them out to the tennis courts to spread everybody out. We're doing the best we can. Up to this point, we've been very fortunate."

While both the men’s and women’s basketball programs have had to deal with shutdowns and quarantines, football has been relatively unscathed. Gundy mentioned a few players have tested positive over the past several days, but he didn’t provide any names. He said he also anticipates more positive tests coming before the Fiesta Bowl against Notre Dame this coming Saturday.

However, Gundy also stated the Cowboys are “100% fully committed to playing” the Fiesta Bowl.

"We're going to play this game unless we can't find 11 players," Gundy said. "We are 100% fully committed to playing this game. And we want nothing more to be as healthy as possible and to play this game, but we also want to be able to enjoy Scottsdale and we want to be able to enjoy the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl. So, we are back to full protocol, with what we had last year, and so far, we've been fortunate we've had good practices and the large majority of us have been healthy."

In the same article mentioned above, we also wrote how the team was going to have the first few nights in Arizona to have a bit of fun. The team is headed to watch a little basketball Monday evening as the Phoenix Suns are set to host the Memphis Grizzlies, but Gundy said the team will be masked up in the arena.