COVID-19 causes newest ACC football cancellation (not UM) and it’s Miami’s next opponent
The morning after the No. 12 Miami Hurricanes got the jarring news that they’d have to stop playing football in November and had rescheduled their final three games into December because of additional COVID-19 outbreaks, Miami athletic director Blake James presented another unsettling scenario: more possible changes.
That change, to the schedule of the University of Miami’s next opponent, came quickly.
At 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, the Atlantic Coast Conference announced that “the Wake Forest at Duke football game this weekend will not be played. The game was originally scheduled to be played on Saturday, Nov. 21.’’
The Hurricanes, who had their schedule reshuffling announced Monday, is still supposed to play Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on Dec. 5.
“The decision follows positive tests and subsequent quarantining within the Wake Forest football team,’’ the ACC release said.
The Charlotte Observer wrote that “it appears unlikely” that the schools will be able to find a date to make up the game.
“It’s a weekly battle,’’ Clawson told reporters in his weekly video conference. “Every time we test I lose sleep and hold my breath until we get the test results back.’’
UM’s athletic director spoke Tuesday morning to WQAM and was asked if Miami’s newly rescheduled final three games for December were “set to be played.’’
Replied James: “They’re set as we sit here today.’’
“As you guys both know as we deal with COVID, things are constantly changing,’’ James said. “So, as we sit here today we’re going to play Wake Forest Dec. 5 and North Carolina on Dec. 12, and if it is the situation where we’re not in the ACC Championship, most likely we’ll play Georgia Tech on the 19th.
“But those are all things that are going to be dependent on where things continue to go with us and where things go with other teams in the league.”
Other schedule changes
Miami’s COVID-19 situation has affected other ACC programs. Wake Forest at Louisville had to move from Dec. 5 to Nov. 28; Western Carolina at North Carolina had to move from Dec. 11 to Dec. 5; and Louisville at Boston College had to move from Nov. 27 to Dec. 12.
As of Wednesday morning, at least eight college football games originally scheduled for this weekend already had been canceled or postponed. And the list is expected to keep growing. Last week 11 games were postponed and another four were canceled.
James reminded hosts Joe Rose and Zach Krantz that “back in August when we first released the schedule I had made a statement that if we can get eight games in it’s a success — 11 [games] I thought, as did many of my colleagues, was aspirational not knowing where this all would go. To think that we’re eight games in, yeah, it’s been successful. Do I want to get all 11 in? Without a doubt. We’re taking those steps to hopefully be able to play.
“Again, you don’t know where this is going to go with everyone else. Who knows? There may be some more reshuffling of the schedule because this type of situation [can] happen with another school, but right now we’re just focused on doing our part to be ready to go Dec. 5.”
James is candid
James has been candid about his feelings and the situation since the coronavirus forced campus and sports to basically shut down in March. He was wary about the prospect of fans returning to Hard Rock Stadium, let alone games being played at all. He knew it would be a long struggle, which it remains as COVID-19 continues to turn the college football season upside down.
Miami has won four consecutive games and is now 7-1 and 6-1 in the ACC, its best start to a season since 2017 when the Canes finished 10-3.
For now, an undisclosed amount of Hurricanes, which is believed to have grown significantly since 13 were announced out for last Saturday’s Virginia Tech game, are quarantining after either testing positive for the virus or having contact with those who did.
“I assure you there won’t be anyone back out competing before they’ve gone through a variety of tests making sure they’re cleared and ready to go,’’ James said. “It’s continuing to make good decision and reinforce all the things they need to do based on the guidance from the experts trying to bring an end to this pandemic. It’s a challenge. We’re seeing it around our community. The numbers are going up. We’re seeing it around the world.’’
What now?
The Hurricanes will not practice the next two weeks, but will continue to work out and lift weights in socially distanced controlled UM environments.
“It’s going to be a lot different over the next two weeks,’’ James said. “I won’t say it’s going to be all Zoom meetings. It’s important for us, for those that their health allows, for them to continue to have some type of conditioning. You don’t want to just take a two-week break with everyone sitting on Zoom meetings and all of a sudden start back up and think you’re going to play a game and really have the best interest of our young people involved.”
James said the Hurricanes are working with UHealth for guidance “in terms of testing and quarantining’’ to get players back to “conditioning, contact and ultimately getting to competition on Dec 5.’’
Problem with rankings?
Rose asked James how he felt about the Canes falling three spots in the AP Top 25 Poll after winning four in a row, the last two on the road. UM’s only loss came last month to then-No. 1 Clemson. Two of the three teams that jumped Miami in the AP have only played two games.
“I don’t get caught up in rankings,’’ James said. “At the end of the day if we go out and we win our remaining games we’ll be in a good spot and the rankings will play out in the end and we’ll earn an opportunity to do something at the end of the year. And whatever that is we’ll take advantage of that opportunity and enjoy that experience.
“Where the AP or the Coaches want to rank different teams at different points of their season is something that creates great conversation for all of us and obviously gives sports radio some things to talk about but what’s most important for us is to follow the protocols we need to right now to be ready to go Dec. 5 and take on a Wake Forest team that’s quite explosive.”
Basketball season
James conceded that he believes UM basketball season, which begins Nov. 29 against North Florida, “will be a challenge.’’
“But I know we have a great system in place,’’ James said. “We’ll need our young people to continue to buy into the things they need to do, whether that’s avoiding groups of people when at all possible, the social distancing, to wearing their mask to washing their hands — all the things we’ve been talking about dating back to the beginning of this process. ...I think we’ll see the need to have some flexibility with scheduling and playing of games.
“You’ve already seen it with us. The day we announced our schedule we found out that the team that was supposed to open with us one week from tomorrow [Stetson] wasn’t going to be able to do that. I think there will be some adjustments that are needed to be made along the way. There may be some situations where we can’t get all the games in that have been scheduled. That’s just a reality of what we’re dealing with and really living in right now as we battle through this pandemic.”
This story was originally published November 17, 2020 at 11:15 AM.
