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Duke's Cutcliffe skeptical of full season, prefers conference-only slate

Mark Brown / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Duke head coach David Cutcliffe is among those who doubt a full college football season will take place amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

While Cutcliffe still believes the 2020 campaign will move forward, he thinks there will be issues.

"It's going to be disrupted," he said Friday, according to ESPN's David M. Hale. "I don't know if we'll get 12 games in or start on Sept. 5. ... I don't think there's any way we're going to play without teams, at some point during the year, not being able to play. If you lose an entire offensive line to contact tracing, you can't play a game with that contingency."

The Big Ten announced Thursday it will cancel all non-conference games this year, and Cutcliffe believes it's best for the Blue Devils' conference (the ACC) to do that as well.

"We'd all be better playing in our own leagues," he said. "The flexibility of scheduling is far greater. There are 14 teams in our league, and all 14 can be held accountable. You can do everything in your power to keep your players healthy, but you can play one game and come out of it with a disaster if it's not done properly on the other side.

"And the reality is, it's not easy to do this financially, so it's something I think is on the forefront of folks' minds."

Universities were allowed to invite players back to campus starting in early June. A number of big-time programs have recently reported multiple student-athletes testing positive, including Clemson, Texas, and Alabama.

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