The Notre Dame-Wake Forest football game scheduled for Saturday has been postponed after the Irish announced 13 players are in isolation.
In a statement Tuesday, Notre Dame said seven players tested positive for coronavirus out of 94 tests done Monday. Combined with testing results from last week, 13 players are in isolation, with 10 in quarantine. As a result, Notre Dame has paused all football-related activities. The two schools are working on a date to reschedule the game.
“With student-athlete health and safety our primary focus, we will continue to follow our prevention protocols and ongoing testing procedures,” Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said in a statement. “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.”
Wake Forest athletic director John Currie said in a statement they are working on rescheduling the game for Oct. 3, an open date the two schools share.
“I know everyone involved is saddened to be unable to play this weekend, but based on the circumstances it is the right decision,” Currie said in a statement. “We are already discussing options for rescheduling with the ACC and our future opponents, including the possibility of playing on the October 3rd weekend.”
Notre Dame beat South Florida 52-0 at home last Saturday and opened the season with a win over Duke.
This is not the first time this season the Irish have had to pause practices. They also paused for three days last month after five positive results during two rounds of testing.
This is now the fourth ACC game impacted because of coronavirus issues.
