ACC pushes forward as Big 10 reportedly plans to postpone season
The Big 10 is reportedly close to postponing the 2020 fall season, but it doesn’t appear as though the Atlantic Coast Conference is ready to join them — at least not yet.
Louisville coach Scott Satterfield told reporters Monday morning that it is his understanding the ACC will continue moving forward and preparing to play football this fall, at least for now, regardless of what other Power 5 leagues decide to do.
Louisville, Clemson and other teams in the ACC are holding practice Monday as they prepare for the start of football next month. Clemson coach Dabo Swinney will meet with the media Monday night. Clemson was originally going to make a coordinator available on Monday instead. The Tigers are slated to open the season at Wake Forest on Sept. 12.
“We’re relying on our medical group that is over the ACC. And what they’re projecting to us is that we’re moving forward with everything. So that’s where we are today,” Satterfield told reporters. “The latest I heard this morning is that the ACC is moving forward. No matter what any other conference does, Big 10, PAC 12, we’re moving forward.”
Satterfield’s comments were a part of a news-filled day in the college football world.
The Detroit Free Press reported Monday morning that the Big 10 had voted to cancel the season and there would be no Big 10 football in 2020. The Big 10 later refuted that report saying that no decision has been voted on yet. Still, it seems that the league is close to pulling the plug on the season before it ever got off the ground.
Big 10 coaches Ryan Day, Jim Harbaugh, James Franklin and Scott Frost used their platforms to offer support for there to be a college football season this fall. Satterfield, Dino Babers and the Wake Forest football account also expressed their desires for college football to take place in 2020.
Satterfield indicated he has a problem with what he believes is a premature decision by the Big 10. It was just last week that the Big 10 announced its new-look, conference-only schedule for the 2020 season.
“It’s lack of leadership. How do you put a plan together for months? We all were in our house for three months. Had plenty of time to put a plan together. And when you put a plan together you work your plan,” Satterfield said. “You plan your work and then you work your plan. That’s what we do as football. That’s what we do as leaders.”
Instead, the Big 10 is reportedly on the verge of calling off the season weeks before its first games are scheduled to take place the first week of September.
The last official statement from the Big 10 came last week when the conference said it would the start the season as early as the weekend of Sept. 5. The Big 10 also outlined its testing plan in its statement and its protocols for dealing with COVID-19.
Big 10 players have been on campus working out since June in preparation for the season. ACC players were also cleared to begin workouts in June.
Satterfield believes it is unfair to ask players to return to campus, spend weeks working out and following guidelines to limit the spread of COVID-19, only to cancel the season before giving it a chance.
“We’re playing with these 18- to 22-year-olds’ minds by some of these leagues doing this yoyo. ‘This is what we’re going to do one day’ but then two days later, ‘No, we’re going to do this right here.’ That’s not leadership,” Satterfield said, adding that there have been a low number of positive cases within his program. “We’ve done all the medical advice. We’ve stuck with it. We’re adamant about it. And it’s paid off. And it’s worked out.”
Satterfield added that the coronavirus isn’t going away anytime soon, and in his opinion the best bet is for those in the college sports world to work on limiting it as much as possible while continuing to have sports.
“We had players this morning crying in our meetings because they want to play. ‘Coach, we’ve done everything we’re supposed to do. What’s this talk about these leagues? What’s that going to do to us?’ We’re dealing with this on a daily basis. We have to tell this senior, ‘I don’t know, right now we’re moving forward’ who is sitting there crying because he wants to play his senior year of football,” Satterfield said.
“It seems like to me we’re going to have to maneuver no matter what, and to keep pushing it down the road, to me that’s just not the way we need to be going.”
This story was originally published August 10, 2020 at 4:11 PM.
