The University of Cincinnati football team is scheduled to host Houston on Saturday (3:30 p.m. on ABC).
But the No. 6 Bearcats (both in the Associated Press and Coaches polls) have a lot to sort through before they take the field.
The team will not practice on Tuesday. In fact, all UC student-athletes have the day off from competition and other team activities to focus on Election Day.
"Just a little change in the routine again," Cincinnati Head Coach Luke Fickell said. "One thing that we're used to in 2020 is a change of routine.
"Personally, (I) would rather have had them today so that we could actually spend a little more time not just practicing, but then going through the election process and maybe making a greater impact."
The Bearcats (5-0, 3-0 American Athletic Conference, or AAC) instead practiced on Monday night. They will take the field at Sheakley Athletic Complex again on Wednesday. Fickell said that's when the team's medical staff will evaluate wide receiver Alec Pierce, tight end Bruno Labelle and nickel cornerback Arquon Bush.
Pierce, who missed the first three games of the season with a knee injury, left last Saturday's game against Memphis in the second quarter with an apparent shoulder injury and did not return.
Bush also exited the game with an injury, and Labelle did not suit up after tweaking his knee at SMU the previous week.
"We'll see as they get closer to the game time," Fickell said of the three players. "There's some decisions that will have to be made as we get a little bit closer."
The team typically uses the Friday night before a Saturday game as an opportunity to relax as a group. That could mean playing cards, watching a movie or any other activity that puts their minds and bodies at ease before gameday.
Fickell said this Friday night could be used as opportunity to discuss the events and outcomes of Election Day.
"Things like this really kind of become a Friday night conversation, where you share a lot of different things because you're only together with your teammates," he said. "There's no distractions on a Friday night for us. We have our guys in a captive audience, where it's much more difficult now with 2020, with COVID, to even sit down and have your dinners. Our Friday nights have been able to keep us somewhat intact, so that we can have those deeper conversations about things that are going on within our world, within our country, within our program."
Another conversation that is happening within the country, and to a lesser degree within the Cincinnati program, is the College Football Playoff and the Bearcats' possible opportunity to crash it.
Though UC still has five games remaining on its regular-season schedule, the Bearcats are the highest-ranked non-Power Five team in the FBS and are starting to roll off the tongues of many in the college football world.
Since the College Football Playoff's inaugural season in 2014, no Group of Five team has been selected to participate in the four-team playoff for the national championship.
Cincinnati, which had 11-win campaigns in each of the past two seasons, is stringing together a strong case to be considered one of the country's four best teams.
UC set a school record last week with its 17th straight win at home. Cincinnati is one of four teams in the FBS to go undefeated at home in the past two-plus seasons, joining Ohio State, Clemson and Notre Dame.
The Bearcats rank seventh nationally in scoring defense, allowing 12 points per game. Cincinnati is sixth nationally in pass-efficiency defense (94.76) and ninth in rushing defense (97.0 yards per game).
UC had a season-high six sacks, including 1.5 by defensive end Myjai Sanders, and allowed just five rushing yards last week in a 49-10 win over Memphis.
"I've got an idea of where we could be and what we need to do," Fickell said. "But I think that's just trying not to be naïve. I want to make sure I understand what our guys are hearing and seeing. And not to say its like the elephant in the room and we don't talk about it, but I also want them to enjoy some of that stuff; just not too much."
Fickell's immediate priority is keeping his team's focus on Houston (2-2, 2-1 AAC), a team Fickell said gave the Bearcats "everything we wanted" last season before UC outscored the Cougars 17-6 in the fourth quarter and pulled away for a 38-23 victory on the road.
Said Fickell: "Hopefully, we've got a really mature crew that understands and realizes that as we continue to move forward, the expectations continue to rise, and that's what they're excited about."