Mountain West eyes fall as ND game postponed

As the Atlantic Coast Conference worked Tuesday to reschedule another league game postponed because of a COVID- 19 outbreak within one of its teams, the Mountain West was zeroing in on a possible late October start to its football season.

No. 7 Notre Dame’s game at Wake Forest on Saturday was postponed after positive COVID- 19 tests landed 13 Fighting Irish players in isolation and another 10 in quarantine. The schools said they were working with the ACC to reschedule the game. Both teams have off Oct. 3.

Mountain West university presidents moved up a scheduled Friday meeting to Thursday, a person with knowledge of the meeting told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the league is not making its move toward a possible return to fall public.

It was unclear whether the Mountain West presidents would vote Thursday on any proposals, the person said.

Mountain West athletic directors are aiming for an Oct. 24 or Oct. 31 start for the football season. The conference is close to an agreement that will provide its schools with the capacity to perform daily COVID19 antigen tests on athletes, the person said.

Mountain West Commissioner Craig Thompson told AP last week the conference would not move forward on a fall football season without its schools having the ability to test daily.

The Mountain West postponed its fall sports season on Aug. 10, the day before the Big Ten and Pac- 12 did the same.

The Pac- 12’ s CEO Group of presidents and chancellors is also meeting Thursday and is expected to make a decision on whether the conference can start its football season as soon as Halloween weekend. The Pac- 12 announced early this month it had acquired daily COVID- 19 testing.

The Big Ten announced last week it will kick off its football season the weekend of Oct. 24. The conference plans to start testing its fall sport athletes daily on Sept. 30.

The hope is daily testing will prevent those who are infected from spreading the virus and cut down on the number of people who end up in quarantine because they were in close contact with someone who tested positive. The conferences that are currently staging fall football seasons have been testing athletes at least three times per week, but not daily.

Notre Dame said 94 football players were tested for COVID- 19 on Monday and of those seven were positive. Those players were in isolation along with others who tested positive last week. The school is pausing all football- related activities until further testing is complete.

“We managed an increase in positivity rates in August, and the players handled it wonderfully,” Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said. “We knew COVID would present challenges throughout the season, and we’ll always put student- athlete health and safety at the forefront of our decision making.”