The ACC unveiled an 11-game schedule for college football this fall. The season begins the weekend of Sept. 12 and features FBS independent Notre Dame playing a full league schedule.
All ACC schools, as well as Notre Dame, will play 10 conference games and one non-conference game of their choosing . Notre Dame is eligible to play in the ACC Championship.
Thoughts?
“I think it’s as good as what any conference has put on the table,” former Clemson coach and current ACC Network analyst Tommy Bowden said on After Hours with Amy Lawrence. “I think you will get a true champion from the ACC. The fact that you’re playing 10 games, they got one non-conference opponent, but the fact that they got the two open dates in there in case this pandemic mess creeps up on them [is smart]. So there’s 14 teams, you’re playing 10 of them. The four lucky [teams] are the [teams] who don’t have to play Clemson.”
Those four schools are Duke, Louisville, North Carolina, and N.C. State.
The 11-game season will unfold over at least 13 weeks, with the ACC Championship following in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Dec. 12 or Dec. 19.
“I think it gives you so much flexibility,” Bowden said. “But right now, this [pandemic] is something that nobody has answers to. The two open dates seems like a good idea, but again, we have no idea whether the pandemic is going to get better or going to get worse. If it gets worse, I don’t think we’ll be playing, and the two open dates will be irrelevant.”
If experts determine it is unsafe to play, Bowden believes programs will not put their student-athletes at risk.
“I don’t think they would try [to play],” he said. “I know finances are really tight right now, but I just don’t think the decision would be made with what’s gone on the last few months. . . . I don’t think they would jeopardize [players’ health].”