Aug. 11, 2020 will go down as a historic day in the sport of college football, but the ramifications for the NC State Wolfpack are yet known.
As Big Ten Network anchor Dave Revsine took the air at 3 p.m., he noted that college football played through two world wars and other tumultuous events since the formation of the Big Ten in 1896 , but the COVID-19 pandemic proved to be too much for both that league and the Pac-12 conferences.
Each of those Power Five leagues announced Tuesday that it would not play this fall. Both hold open the option of playing in the spring, but as Bruce Feldman of The Athletic noted regarding the Pac-12, “I’m told the medical experts didn’t sound very encouraging on prospects of being able to play in spring either.”
Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren, in his first year on the job, repeatedly used the word "uncertainty" during a pressing interview by Revsine on the BTN to continue moving ahead despite just releasing a schedule less than a week ago.
“There are just too many uncertainties from a medical standpoint for us to go forward,” he said.
For now the ACC and SEC are holding firm with their tentative plans to begin playing football in September. One aspect that may give the ACC optimism is that the league, according to ESPN’s Andrea Adelson, has not had a positive test in recent weeks, a sign that its players are adhering to protocols that are working.
All eyes turn towards the Big 12. There is a feeling that conference is the linchpin towards preserving a path to football this fall or the doomsday scenario.
Baylor AD Mack Rhoades told SecEm365Radio that, “My sense is that if we voted today, it would be a really, really close vote.”
“Do I think we can move forward safely and put our student-athletes in the best possible position? I do,” Rhoades added.
While the Big Ten’s decision was described in more generalities than specifics, the Pac-12 released a detailed medical explanation surrounding its choice, noting specifically three factors: high community prevalence in much of the Pac-12 footprint, “new and evolving information regarding potential serious cardiac side effects in elite athletes,” and a need to increase testing capacity with an emphasis on more rapid turn-around time and ability to test closer to game time.
Reports indicate that at least 15 Big Ten players, maybe through COVID-19, contracted myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle that in severe cases can lead to heart failure or death.
Dr. Cameron Wolfe, who specializes in infectious diseases at Duke and is the chairman of the ACC medical advisory board, told the Sports Business Daily that he still believes a season could be safely played.
“Can we safely have two teams meet on the field? I would say yes,” Wolfe said. “Will it be tough? Yes. Will it be expensive and hard and lots of work? For sure. But I do believe you can sufficiently mitigate the risk of bringing COVID onto the football field or into the training room at a level that’s no different than living as a student on campus.”
Adelson reports that, “Multiple ACC sources indicated that nothing has changed from a medical perspective since the Power 5 conferences announced their schedules last week, and there remains disbelief over how the Pac-12 and Big Ten reversed course so quickly.”
But just as conferences were probably hesitant to be the first to cancel fall football, there will also be a strong desire not to be last to call it. Thus why the Big 12 packing it up could be the final domino.
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