ACC AD’s ‘moving forward’ with plan to play 2020 college football season

We have some good news, as the ACC football season plans to go on as is.

The ACC football season looks to be happening, regardless of what the Big Ten decides to do.

According to Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated, “ACC ADs met today and are “moving forward in an attempt to play,” in the words of one staffer. League presidents could be meeting today as well.” With the Big Ten deciding to cancel its season on Monday morning, the ACC has emerged as leaders on the opposite front.

Will the Big 12, SEC and even the Pac-12 follow the lead of ACC football?

We cannot overstate how huge this is for the hopes of having a 2020 college football season, should it hold true. It was widely expected that the Big Ten would pick one side, the SEC would pick another and the ACC, Big 12 and Pac-12 would have to follow suit at their discretion.

Keep in mind that the ACC has the largest geographical footprint of any Power 5 conference, going as far south as Coral Gables, Florida with the Miami Hurricanes to as north as Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts with the Boston College Eagles. The ACC has member institutions in eight states normally, as well as in Indiana to account for the national independent Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

While the ACC will have consistent testing protocol across all 15 member institutions this year, the nine states in the conference’s geographic footprint will almost certainly have different protocols for how to combat and contain the coronavirus. As long as the ACC schools remain united and push forward, we could have college football along the Atlantic Coast this fall.

A big reason why the ACC seems to be all-in on having a season is because the most recognizable player in college football stars in their conference in Clemson Tigers quarterback Trevor Lawrence. He has been at the forefront of the #WeWantToPlay movement across the Power 5. Perhaps the unity display by prominent Power 5 players helped influence the ACC’s decision-making process?

We may have some college football this year because the ACC is planning to play in 2020.

For more NCAA football news, analysis, opinion and unique coverage by FanSided, including Heisman Trophy and College Football Playoff rankings, be sure to bookmark these pages.