Armstrong: Pure and simple, this could be a fun ACC football season

GREENSBORO, N.C. (WTVD) -- Before we get to anything else, let's focus on the only phrase that really matters.

"If public health guidance allows."

Those five words are nestled near the top of the ACC's Football and Fall Olympic Sports plan, unveiled Wednesday after a meeting of the league's Council of Presidents. "If public health guidance allows" is the dash of cold reality that could throw everything out the window, but what follows sounds impossibly fun, to me anyway.

A division-less free for all of 10 conference games (+1 non-conference game that must be played in the ACC team's home state). They even let snooty Notre Dame in the door for the year to participate and be eligible for the ACC Championship.

This may not be the year for NC State, but this is the format that Wolfpack fans, and many others (who call the Atlantic Division home), have been clamoring for.

A 15-team Royal Rumble. The two teams with the best conference winning percentage at the end of the battle then meeting in Charlotte for the conference championship in December.

It's so pure, so simple.

Sure, everyone doesn't play everyone. That's impossible. But everyone has a fairly equal kick at the can to make it to the title game.

Our three local teams -- Duke, North Carolina and North Carolina State -- all got the gift of avoiding Clemson, too. What more can you ask for? NC State playing Duke for the first time since the Stone Age? The schedule plan has that too! I haven't forgotten what you did that day, DeVon Edwards.

In the end, it gives fans a chance to dream of a fall filled with football. Whether or not anyone is in the stands is irrelevant really. We sports fans are just hoping for games. Seeing a plan on paper is exciting enough for now.

"If public health guidance allows."

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