More testing? Delay the season? 4 big questions still looming before Syracuse football season begins - syracuse.com

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Syracuse, N.Y. — The ACC and Syracuse football is part of a shrinking group of schools still pressing on toward a fall season.

Despite stated intentions by the conference earlier this week to stay the course, there’s still no promise the Orange will open the season Sept. 12 at North Carolina, as scheduled.

The Big Ten and Pac-12′s decisions to pull the plug altered the landscape in a seismic way, effectively pitting the Midwest- and West Coast-based leagues against an SEC-ACC-Big 12 alliance.

Conferences are being briefed by separate medical advisory groups and responding in different ways. The Big Ten and Pac-12 believe there’s too much unknown risk with Covid-19, especially with potential, long-term health issues.

The other leagues, to this point, believe proper mitigation protocols can create an environment safe to play football.

University presidents deciding the fate of the season must factor in the safety and desires of athletes, legal consequences and massive financial motivation. Also in the backdrop is the desires of alumni and fans who donate money to the university, a rising tide of athlete empowerment that is realizing the power they wield, the state of testing in vasty different regions and localities and, perhaps most concerning, the unknown long-term impact of a new virus.

As the ACC continues to weigh whether or not to play, here are four big questions still on the table:

Will they strengthen medical rules?

The ACC’s medical plan calls for less frequent testing than the remaining two major conferences still planning for a fall season. That disparity will almost certainly be a prominent item when conference presidents continue their meetings and receive input from the experts advising them.

The SEC has said it will test athletes twice a week, typically Sunday and Wednesday. The Big 12 upped the ante and said it will test players three times a week and conduct heart health checks if a player tests positive for Covid-19.

The ACC’s medical procedures have come under scrutiny by Syracuse’s players, whose concerns about other teams being as diligent and careful as SU led university officials to commit to testing twice a week and lobbying the rest of the conference to do the same.

Could they delay the start of the season further?

Yes. The SEC and Big 12 are planning to start conference schedules Sept. 26.

The ACC is planning to start two weeks earlier.

Some schools have already lost nonconference games to cancellations. The ACC considered the 11-game model “aspirational” and built flexibility into its schedule in case it needed to further amend it.

What about the spring?

The Big Ten, Pac-12 and others will try again early next year and are moving on scheduling models on what a season might look like in early 2021.

If the ACC presidents decide to drop out, it has a chance to learn from the Big Ten’s sloppy communication and be prepared to answer questions such as:

• How will teams prepare for a spring season in the fall?
• When will a season start and end?
• How many games will be played in the spring and the next season in fall 2021?

What might rosters look like?

This is dependent on decisions made at the NCAA level that will help determine who will suit up during a fall or spring season.

The NCAA had promised players would get some answers on their eligibility status by Friday if they opted out of the 2020 season because of coronavirus concerns. Now that date has been pushed to Aug. 21 given the complexities tied to the issue.

For now, national leadership is proposing fall athletes retain a year of eligibility if they opt out or their seasons are cut short. The proposal says players can retain their eligibility status if they compete in 50% or less of the maximum number of competitions allowed in their sport.

It’s unclear what that number is in football, given a team can only schedule 12 regular-season games but could play in as many as 15 if it plays for the national championship.

Still under discussion is whether schools will be able to get temporary relief of the 85-man scholarship limit in football. Schools are preparing to sign a new class of recruits in December that will push all of them above that scholarship limit.

And, that still doesn’t account for the transfer question and NFL variable.

Could players from schools who already killed their fall seasons transfer to another school still planning to play? That would be handled through the NCAA’s unwieldy waiver process.

Most coaches believe seniors with certain NFL futures will skip a spring season and begin training for a pro career. The NFL decides its calendar and has not to this point shown a willingness to move the date of the scouting combine or draft to accomodate a spring college football season.

Seniors and draft-eligible juniors who are fringe-NFL prospects have to choose whether to train for the pros or stay in school and continue juggling classes and training for a season that still isn’t promised because of the virus.

MORE ORANGE FOOTBALL COVERAGE

Axe: Let them play? Syracuse football navigates through Power 5 COVID-19 confusion

Axe: 3 reasons Syracuse and college football could and could not play in 2020

Dino Babers: How Syracuse football’s start of preseason camp turned into ‘Kumbaya meetings’

Axe: Opt out? Syracuse football players face a once unthinkable choice

Got a tip, comment or story idea? Contact Nate Mink anytime: 315-430-8253 | Email | Twitter

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More testing? Delay the season? 4 big questions still looming before Syracuse football season begins - syracuse.com
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