Welp, that didn’t take long. SHortly after learning that Notre Dame was forced to cancel today’s practice, the University announced that this weekend’s game with Wake Forest has been postponed.
Pre the release from Notre Dame:
A total of 94 COVID-19 tests were administered to Notre Dame Football student-athletes on Monday. Of those 94, there were seven positive tests, according to University Physician Dr. Matt Leiszler. Those seven student-athletes are in isolation and their close contacts have been/are being identified.
In consultation with the St. Joseph County Department of Health, the Notre Dame Football program has decided to pause all football-related activities until further testing is completed. Combined with last week’s testing results, a total of 13 players are currently in isolation, with 10 in quarantine.
The ACC and Wake Forest have been notified, and the process of rescheduling the game originally slated for Sept. 26 is underway.
“With student-athlete health and safety our primary focus, we will continue to follow our prevention protocols and ongoing testing procedures,” said Dick Corbett Head Football Coach Brian Kelly. “We managed an increase in positivity rates in August, and the players handled it wonderfully.
“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. We look forward to resuming team activities and getting back on the playing field.”
Notre Dame was supposed to travel to North Carolina this weekend to take on the Demon Deacons in a game that was originally scheduled to be played in Bank of America Stadium before being moved to Truist Field on the campus of Wake Forest. The game will now be shuffled once again due to this weekend’s postponement.
Notre Dame has a bye week scheduled for next weekend as does Wake Forest. The Deacons, however, are set to play on Friday, October 9th next. Whether or not this game can simply be moved until Friday, October 2 remains to be seen though, on the surface that would work at least logistically. Whether or not that is realistic given the number of positive tests, however, is most likely very optimistic and unlikely.
Notre Dame’s only other built-in bye-week this season is November 21st, but Wake Forest is set to play Duke that weekend.
Notre Dame played last weekend without seven players who were on their two-deep from earlier in the week presumably due to COVID-19 issues. Notre Dame managed the losses last week while still shutting out South Florida 52-0.
