Pirates Kick Off 2020 Campaign With First Practice…ECU holding steady at 10 games for now, nearing decision on fans in the stands…Gilbert: Football scheduling similar to MLB…Pirates’ testing numbers trending in right direction…AAC teams expected to play eight conference football games in 2020…Herd football practice brings normalcy in abnormal world; Marshall football hoping COVID-19 doesn’t derail season …Mack Brown frustrated he doesn’t know whether UNC will play UCF; Even Without SEC, ACC Still Planning to Keep ‘Plus One’ Format…Braves score 5 in eighth to stun Mets…Carolina Hurricanes vs New York Rangers, Game 1 on Saturday

Pirate Press: ECU Headlines

Pirates Kick Off 2020 Campaign With First Practice ecupirates.com

Pirates open fall camp to prepare for 2020 football season  WNCT 9

ECU football kicks off 2020 season with first practice WITN 7

ECU holding steady at 10 games for now, nearing decision on fans in the stands WRAL SportsFan

247 Sports

• East Carolina makes the cut for Daniel Nixon
• Pirates’ testing numbers trending in right direction
• Jon Gilbert addresses future of ECU-South Carolina series
• ECU has rust to shake off after long-awaited return to practice

Greenville Daily Reflector (sub req’d)

• Gilbert: Football scheduling similar to MLB
• Pirates begin preseason practice with spacing requirements

Around the American Athletic Conference

AAC teams expected to play eight conference football games in 2020 Houston Chronicle

USF still could play as many as 11 games in 2020, report suggests Tampa Bay Times

Power 5 Leaders Must Articulate Motive Behind Push to Play 2020 College Football Season Sports Illustrated

Mack Brown frustrated he doesn’t know whether UNC will play UCF Orlando Sentinel

Central High LB Balansama Kamara commits to Temple Philadelphia Inquirer

247 Sports

• Rick Hart comments on SMU’s plan for Ford Stadium
• Breaking down Memphis’ 2020 opponents: UCF

Possible spring football schedule: How will it impact the 2021 season?; Will star players opt-out? Tulsa World

Former Navy Quarterback, Having Recovered from COVID-19, Helping Combat Disease Annapolis Capital

 

Regional Headlines: The Carolinas and beyond

Huntington Herald-Dispatch

• Herd football practice brings normalcy in abnormal world
• Chuck Landon: Will C-USA adopt league-only format?

Marshall football: Herd opens practice amid COVID-19 uncertainty Charleston Gazette-Mail

Marshall football hoping COVID-19 doesn’t derail season WSAZ

Raleigh News and Observer

• Most, if not all, ACC schools will honor scholarships for opt-out athletes
• Duke testing shows 25 athletes positive for COVID-19; team activities continue
• Second round of COVID-19 tests administered for NC State athletics, two more positive
• No Shrine Bowl in 2020, but game will find way to honor top SC and NC seniors
• Will there be private school football? Gov. Roy Cooper will have a lot to say about that

Steve Forbes has finally been able to see his new Wake Forest basketball team on the court, and he’s impressed with work ethic Winston Salem Journal

Fayetteville Observer

• D.J. Funderburk to return for final year with N.C. State
• Duke says 25 returning athletes test positive
• Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas suspended for 2020
•  UFC fighter, UNCP alum Derek Brunson set for UFC Fight Night’s main event

 

Old Dominion will visit South Carolina for football in 2024, collect largest payout in program’s history Hampton Roads Daily Press

YAHOO!

• Column: College football should be postponed. But if it’s played here’s what ODU’s schedule could look like.
• C-USA reportedly keeping full conference schedule. Here’s what it means for FAU

Everyone ’emotionally affected’ by SEC’s decision to cancel USC-Clemson football game Charleston Post Courier

SEC football schedule decision was a major domino. So what’s next for Gamecocks?  Columbia The State

Sports Illustrated

• Even Without SEC, ACC Still Planning to Keep ‘Plus One’ Format
• Irish-ACC Alliance Makes Perfect Sense in This Covid-19 Storm

Atlanta Journal Constitution

• Why epidemiologists are pessimistic about a college football season
• SEC move means college football likely happening
• Will COVID-wrought changes become football fixtures?