Yahoo Sports NC State-Virginia Tech game moved from Sept. 12 to Sept. 26 due to COVID-19 cases at NC State
The NC State at Virginia Tech game, originally scheduled for Sept. 12, has been moved to Sept. 26, sources told Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel on Wednesday morning.
The move comes as NC State has paused all athletic activities amid a cluster of positive COVID-19 cases in the athletic department.
The ACC confirmed the news Wednesday afternoon.
“The rescheduling follows the positive tests and subsequent quarantining of student-athletes within the NC State football team,” ACC said in a press release. “The conference and team are adhering to the outlined protocols within ACC Medical Advisory Group report.”
NC State announced Monday that it was dealing with three additional clusters of COVID-19 cases at the university, including one that involved 27 positive tests in the athletic department. The school did not specify how many cases involved athletes, nor did it say which sports were specifically affected.
An NC State official said the school has issued 2,053 tests to athletes, coaches and staff with just 30 total positives. However, 22 of those total positives have occurred since the last time the school reported its testing numbers about two weeks ago.
“Based on the information available to us, we are making the necessary and swift decision to pause athletic-related activities until we have additional information,” Wolfpack athletic director Boo Corrigan said. “We will continue to work with all appropriate parties to evaluate the most responsible path moving forward and will provide further details when available."
When the ACC revealed its adjusted football schedule back on Aug. 6, it included “strategically-placed open dates” to create flexibility should any games need to be rescheduled due to COVID-19 cases. The ACC scheduling model includes 10 conference games and one non-conference game. Both the Wolfpack and Hokies had Sept. 26 as an open date, allowing the game to be moved to that Saturday.
The change means NC State and Virginia Tech will both open their seasons on Sept. 19. For NC State, it will open up at home against Wake Forest while Virginia Tech will host rival Virginia.
NC State moved undergraduate classes to an online setting only, effective Monday. The university announced that decision on Aug. 20 when there were already more than 500 students in quarantine/isolation housing. NC State began in-person classes on Aug. 10 and is one of many universities to experience a wave of COVID-19 cases with students back on campus.
More from Yahoo Sports:
