So far the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) still plans to play football this year.

But it is a moving target. The fact that both the Big Ten and the Pac-12 announced that they would not be playing football this fall puts a lot of pressure on the ACC to follow suit.

The ACC released this statement on Tuesday, Aug. 11:

“The ACC will continue to make decisions based on medical advice, inclusive of our Medical Advisory Group, local and state health guidelines, and do so in a way that appropriately coincides with our universities’ academic missions. The safety of our students, staff and overall campus communities will always be our top priority, and we are pleased with the protocols being administrated on our 15 campuses. We will continue to follow our process that has been in place for months and has served us well. We understand the need to stay flexible and be prepared to adjust as medical information and the landscape evolves.” 

Which means on Tuesday, Aug. 11, the ACC planned to play football, but it doesn’t mean anything about Wed. Aug. 12 or any day thereafter.

Back on March 12, ACC Commissioner John Swofford did a television interview at 9:30 a.m. and talked about how the ACC was going to complete the ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum. At 12:14 p.m. on March 12, while players were on the floor warming up for the first game of the day, the official announcement was made that the ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament was cancelled

The idea that football is being cancelled to protect the safety of the players from COVID-19 is a little farfetched. So far in North Carolina not a single person under the age of 25 has died from COVID-19. Nationwide the recovery rate for those under 29 is 99.9 percent. Coaches, trainers and athletic department staff may be in danger, but players are not according to the statistics from the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS).