ACC football change has Duke hosting Miami, not Florida State, this week
The ACC’s football juggling act will continue in December.
The league announced Sunday that Duke would host No. 10 Miami on Saturday, Dec. 5, instead of facing Florida State as the ACC made more scheduling changes.
Miami, which last played Nov. 14 against Virginia Tech, was set to have an open date this weekend after its scheduled Dec. 5 game against Wake Forest was called off Saturday. The ACC announced the postponement came because of COVID-19 positive tests, quarantining and contact tracing in the Wake program.
The Blue Devils were to have ended the 2020 season with Saturday’s game against FSU at Wallace Wade Stadium. Duke (2-7 overall, 1-7 ACC) also could explore playing a Dec. 12 game to finish with a full complement of 10 ACC games.
Duke’s game with Wake Forest, scheduled for Nov. 21, was canceled due to the COVID-19 issues at Wake.
FSU’s game with Virginia was postponed Saturday morning because of positive tests by the Seminoles. It marked the second straight week an ACC team had traveled to Tallahassee, Fla., only to have the game called -- Clemson came up empty on Nov. 21.
FSU’s unsettled situation left the Duke game in doubt.
“Our team underwent the mandated third-party testing (Friday) and learned late last night that we had one positive test,” FSU athletic director David Coburn said Saturday in a statement. “Contact tracing (Saturday) morning determined that, with opt-outs and injuries, we had just 44 scholarship players for the game, with some position groups depleted almost entirely. ... We made every effort to play, but we could not do so in a way that was safe for the players.”
N.C. State (7-3, 6-3) will close out its regular season Saturday at Carter-Finley Stadium in a 4 p.m. game against Georgia Tech.
North Carolina (6-3, 6-3), after its loss Friday to No. 2 Notre Dame, hosts Western Carolina in its one 2020 nonconference game Saturday and then is at Miami on Dec. 12. The game with WCU will have a noon start.
Saturday’s games
Western Carolina @ North Carolina, noon, ACC Network
Syracuse at Notre Dame, 2:30 pm, NBC (previously announced)
Boston College @ Virginia, 3:30 pm, Fox Sports South
Georgia Tech @ NC State, 4 pm, ACC Network
Clemson @ Virginia Tech, 7:30 pm, ABC
Miami @ Duke, 8 pm, ACC Network
This story was originally published November 29, 2020 at 9:55 PM.
