MAC falls in line, will play fall football

The Mid-American Conference, the first major college football league to postpone its season because of the pandemic, has become the final one to jump back in, making it 10 out of 10 conferences that will play in the fall.

As university presidents in the Big Ten, Pac-12 and Mountain West have done over the last 10 days, MACleaders on Friday voted to reverse their August decision to kick football to spring and tee it up during its usual season.

Just like the other conferences returning to fall ball, the MAC cited advancements in COVID-19 antigen testing as key to the change of direction. The conference will begin testing athletes four times per week, starting Oct 5.

The MACwill start play Nov. 4 — a Wednesday, of course — and the championship game will be played Dec. 18 or 19. A full schedule will be released later, along with the confreence’s full medical protocols.

The MAC, a 12-school league of mostly

Midwest schools with relatively small athletic budgets, postponed all fall sports on Aug. 8. Within a few days, the Mountain West, Big Ten and Pac-12 had done the same.

■ The Georgia State at Charlotte game scheduled for Saturday was postponed because of coronavirus issues. Georgia State said the game was postponed “out of an abundance of caution,” as a result of several positive coronavirus tests and contact tracing. Charlotte was forced to cancel its game last week against UNC after coronavirus issues of its own.

Golf: Hudson Swafford shot a second-round 5-under 67 to take a two-shot lead midway through the PGA Tour’s event in Punta Cana, Domincan Republic.

NFL: The 49ers announced that Nick Mullens will start at QB on Sunday against the Giants. Mullens replaces Jimmy Garoppolo, who suffered a high ankle sprain during last week’s win over the Jets.