Report: ACC schools expected to move to conference-only football schedules

The rippling COVID-19 related scheduling changes are now having an impact on the biggest college sport of them all: football.

According to a tweet from Stadium's Brett McMurphy Thursday afternoon, all ACC schools are expected to move to conference-only football schedules.

This news comes less than 30 minutes after the Big Ten officially announced that all of its fall sports will be playing conference-only schedules, if they are able to play at all.

Currently, Duke's nonconference schedule includes Middle Tennessee, Elon and Charlotte at home over the first three weeks of the season in addition to a trip at Notre Dame Oct. 31.

Those first three matchups would almost undoubtedly be cancelled based on McMurphy's report. 

With regard to the game against the Fighting Irish, McMurphy added that "last month, ACC commish John Swofford told Stadium if Power 5 schools played conference-only schedules that [the] ACC would assist Notre Dame with as many games as it needed," indicating that the Blue Devils trip to South Bend, Ind., could potentially continue as planned.

The Athletic's Nicole Auerbach, who first broke the Big Ten news, also reported that the Pac-12 is expected to move to a conference-only schedule as well. She said that any news related to the ACC at this point, however, is "premature."

McMurphy later added that no official decision has been reached by the ACC, but that the "likely outcome will be league only games based on [the] Big Ten's announcement."