The disparate medical opinions have only added to the ACC and SEC's frustration over the past weekGETTY IMAGES
The ACC and SEC "have not altered their plans" to play a fall football season despite decisions to postpone by the Big Ten and Pac-12 yesterday, according to Andrea Adelson of ESPN.com. The ACC and SEC said that they "continue to make decisions based on the advice of their own medical advisory groups, along with local and state health guidelines." The "disparate medical opinions have only added to the frustration over the past week." Multiple ACC sources said that "nothing has changed from a medical perspective" since the Power Five conferences announced their schedules last week, and there "remains surprise over how the Pac-12 and Big Ten reversed course so quickly." ACC presidents are "scheduled to hold their weekly call" today and "will hear from the league's medical advisory group." It also is "expected that the group will discuss the medical data the Pac-12 used to justify its decision to hold off playing fall sports until at least January" (ESPN.com, 8/11).
SENSE OF OPTIMISM: THE ATHLETIC's Matt Fortuna writes the ACC, "long believed to be the swing vote for the three power conferences that are still standing, says it is in no rush." The "messaging out of the ACC took on a decidedly different turn" yesterday. The "chatter out of the ACC" after its ADs meeting yesterday -- "coupled with the public declarations from the medical and political corners of the league -- struck a decidedly more optimistic tune, with one AD saying that the league is confident in staying the course." The AD said, "Our medical team and the plans we put forth are working. We feel good about it" (THEATHLETIC.com, 8/12).
DIFFERENT DYNAMIC: THE ATHLETIC's Andy Staples writes it is "important to note that within the SEC, league presidents face a different kind of political pressure than most of the colleagues in the Big Ten and the Pac-12." In the SEC, "most state leaders want their schools to play." And because state leaders "decide who sits on the higher education governing boards and how much money public schools get, university CEOs face pressure to keep those governors and legislators happy." This creates a "much different dynamic than in the leagues that announced their postponements" yesterday (THEATHLETIC.com, 8/12).
SEC TO THE RESCUE? In Atlanta, Steve Hummer writes the South "holds ultimate power" in college football. Hummer: "Results don't lie: Here is where 14 of the past 15 national champions hang their helmets." The credentials are all here for a "massive letdown if they can't realistically pull off any kind of season amid concerns for health and safety." If other sports "can somehow carry on but the sport that seems to matter most can't, then the rest of 2020 inevitably will play out beneath a cloud" (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 8/12). In Houston, Brian Smith predicts the SEC "becomes the calm port in the chaos of the storm, finding a way for the college game to stay alive during the coronavirus pandemic" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 8/11).
GROUNDHOG DAY: In S.F., Ann Killion writes if the ACC, SEC and Big 12 "decide to forge ahead and play, it almost certainly will emulate the problems of the spring, when a piecemeal approach to the disease led to hot spots and outbreaks in different parts of the country." Killion: "If so, we'll be back at square one when next spring comes around" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 8/12).
