Texas Tech University had a second masked rider statue in August before the student invasion with Will Rogers on his horse Soapsuds.

TCU and Baylor Enter Football Season in Top Ten
for Virus Rates with SEC as Most Infected League

By Mike Hailey
Capitol Inside Editor
September 11, 2020

The Southeastern Conference and the two private Texas schools in the Big 12 are crushing it in the coronavirus case count sweepstakes in a development that's probably a product of politics and partying in a swath of the United States that's heavily populated with President Donald Trump's people.

While the SEC football power schools are crushing the competition in terms of the total virus infection count, TCU and Baylor University have two of the highest case rates in the nation based on a sweeping review that the New York Times unveiled on Friday on the prevalence of COVID-19 on college campuses around the country as school gets back in business this fall.

Texas Christian University - in fact - is second nationally three weeks into the fall semester with 1,031 cases having been recorded on a Fort Worth campus where about 11,000 students go to school. Baylor ranks ninth in the number of coronavirus infections per capita with 996 positive tests there heading into the weekend. The University of Dayton - a private Catholic school in Ohio - leads the nation in the rate of virus infections on a campus that's about the same size as TCU.

Texas A&M University was 16th in the total infection count with 2,225 cases - 11 more than TCU - which is less than six times the size of Aggieland in College Station. Texas A&M is the second largest campus in the nation behind the University of Central Florida. But the Aggies' per capita count didn't come close to a spot in the top 25 in coronavirus rates at 1,500 cases per 100,000 on a campus with almost 70,000 students.

With 645 cases on a campus with 51,000 students, the University of Texas at Austin doesn't rank among the top 25 in either category. But Texas Tech University is 17th in the total number of coronavirus cases and 20th in the per capita tally despite a recent outbreak that sent the Lubbock County positivity rate skyrocking to a shocking 88 percent earlier this week.

The NYT survey covered 1,600 colleges and universities including all four-year public institutions and private schools that participate in NCAA sports. The Capitol Inside rankings for coronavirus outbreaks in higher education are based on an examination of the Times data.

The SEC has four of the five spots in the top 25 in terms of virus volume. Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina are leading the pack in the cumulative tally with major outbreaks since students returned in August after an extended summer vacation that began halfway through the spring semester. Auburn rates fifth in the cumulative count and seventh in rates with Georgia and Alabama third and sixth in the per capita category.

The SEC has nine schools ranked among the 25 with the highest total virus tallies while the Big 12, Big 10 and Atlantic Coast Conference each have four in the running count column. Arizona State is the only PAC 12 school that's ranked in either category with the eighth highest cumulative tally and the 21st highest rate of infection.

The University of Iowa has been the most infected campus in the Big 10 - one of the two major conferences that have cancelled the football season with the possibility of belated start-ups at some point later this year. The state school that's located in Iowa City ranks fifth in virus case rates and sixth in total infections.

Higher education has become the new American epicenter since most of the major colleges and universities had students pouring in three weeks ago with massive amounts of pent-up energy and inherent need to socialize.