ACC

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — This is the week college football is supposed to fill in critical blanks for the 2020 season.

My suggestion: Announce the decision on a grease-board, not with a printer.

College football will not fill in the blanks. The novel coronavirus will fill in the blanks — and the virus will decide the schedule, not the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Ask Major League Baseball. Ask the Florida Marlins.

When I began writing this column two of the dozen big-league games scheduled for Monday night had been postponed.

Three games into the season the Marlins reported that 11 of the 33 Florida players who traveled with the team for its season-opening series in Philadelphia have tested positive for COVID-19.

That inspired questions that a season might not be possible without creating a bubble environment, like the ones being employed by the NBA in Orlando, Fla., or by the NHL in Canada.

College football is not a sport with bubble possibilities. There are days when it appears this is a “Hail Mary,” situation.

ACC commissioner John Swofford started the month by saying his league would have a decision (or at least its next decision) about the 2020 season by the end of July.

That is Friday.

Word is that presidents of the 14 ACC schools will discuss the situation Wednesday, which fits Swofford’s timeline. Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated reported that ACC athletic directors will have one of their regular weekly calls on Tuesday and might have another on Thursday.

Expect an ACC decision by Wednesday. Or Friday. Or Thursday.

Yeah, it’s that fluid and confusing because there are no good answers.

As I wrote Sunday, one proposal features Notre Dame joining the ACC as a fully-scheduled ACC member for this season only, with ACC teams booked to play 10 conference opponents as well as one non-league opponent.

Would Notre Dame be eligible to play in the ACC championship game?

Would the ACC drop the Irish in the Coastal Division to try to set up a Clemson-Notre Dame title game that would be a television ratings winner?

Will the ACC scrap the division format for one season?

Will some ACC schools hiss and holler at the idea of Notre Dame getting a one-season hall pass?

Interesting questions, every one of them. Good luck getting somebody to answer any of those questions with confidence.

Louisville has nine ACC games booked — the six intradivision opponents, Virginia, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Notre Dame. According to Forde, all that could be junked, with a new schedule recreated based on geography

If geography becomes a factor, get ready for Pitt (390 miles) and Georgia Tech (415 miles) to replace Boston College and Syracuse.

Designate Kentucky as the Cardinals’ sole non-ACC opponent, and blow the whistle.

But do it quickly because the virus keeps throwing a flag. Not in the ACC — yet. But flags are visible everywhere.

Michigan State reported a suspension to its voluntary workouts with a COVID-quarantine last Friday. Rutgers joined the same club Saturday.

Michelle Lujan Grisham, the governor of New Mexico asked New Mexico and New Mexico State, the state’s only FBS programs, to suspend their seasons.

Cecil Hurt, the fine columnist at the Tuscaloosa News, shared his latest column Monday. Hurt wrote that even mighty Alabama, a school that has long rolled in football and SEC Network television money, is staring at chilling financial news.

Hurt reported that if Alabama was able to welcome 45,000 fans (half capacity) into Bryant-Denny Stadium, the Crimson Tide would face a revenue shortfall of between $30-to-$40 million, about 20 percent of the school’s operating budget for last season.

Half-capacity seems quite optimistic. Baseball, remember, is playing in empty stadiums. Illinois has already announced a cap at 20 percent of capacity.

The Baltimore Ravens will limit the opportunity to watch Lamar Jackson at home to 14,000, about 20 percent capacity at M&T Bank Stadium.

The Green Bay Packers are not yet ready to go to 20 percent. Green Bay president and CEO Mark Murphy were considering allowing between 10,000-to12,000 fans in Lambeau Field, which has space for 81,441, when everybody sits shoulder to shoulder.

At 12,000, Lambeau would be at less than 15 percent capacity.

All those numbers and percentages and positive tests are dancing in the background as John Swofford and the ACC try to make another decision COVID-19 might — or might not — approve.

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