A day after the ACC announced it was pushing back the start of fall sports to Sept. 1, the league is taking a wait-and-see approach before making any other decisions.
"The health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches and administrators remains the ACC's top priority. As we continue to work on the best possible path forward for the return of competition, we will do so in a way that appropriately coincides with our universities' academic missions," ACC commissioner John Swofford said Friday in a statement. "Over the last few months, our conference has prepared numerous scenarios related to the fall athletics season. The league membership and our medical advisory group will make every effort to be as prepared as possible during these unprecedented times, and we anticipate a decision by our board of directors in late July."
Swofford's statement also was made a day after the Big Ten decided to follow a conference-only model for its fall sports because of the coronavirus pandemic. There was speculation the ACC would make a similar announcement Friday. Instead, the league will wait.
ACC men's and women's soccer, men's and women's cross country, volleyball and field hockey were impacted by Thursday's decision to push back the start of fall sports. The ACC football schedule begins Sept. 2 when North Carolina State plays a Louisville. Two other conference games (Clemson at Georgia Tech, Syracuse at Boston College) are scheduled to take place that week.
Pitt opens its season Sept. 5 against Miami (Ohio) at Heinz Field. The Panthers also have non-conference home games scheduled against Richmond (Sept. 19) and Notre Dame (Oct. 17). Pitt plays at Marshall on Sept. 12.
Those games are on for now, as are the 56 non-conference games scheduled for the 14 ACC football members. Notre Dame, which competes as an independent in football, is scheduled to play six ACC opponents in Pitt, Wake Forest, Duke, Georgia Tech, Louisville and Clemson.
In a Zoom call Friday with reporters, Duke coach David Cutcliffe said he remains optimistic a season will be played but favors a conference-only schedule possibly with time between games in case teams encounter COVID-19 outbreaks.
"I don't know if we'll get 12 games in or start on Sept. 5," Cutcliffe said. "I don't think there's any way we're going to play without teams, at some point during the year, not being able to play. If you lose an entire offensive line to contract tracing, you can't play a game with that contingency."
The Big Ten's decision wiped out a pair of notable non-conference games -- Penn State at Virginia Tech and Miami at Michigan State -- against ACC opponents.
