At the ACC Kickoff in July, ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips announced that the league would issue player availability reports at least 48 hours before all conference games.
All schools were required to submit NFL-style reports that categorize players as “available,” “questionable,” “doubtful,” or “out,” with updates both the day before a game and two hours before kickoff.
Thursday night, Wake Forest and NC State open ACC play, and the two programs are the league’s first test cases, with their availability reports now posted on the ACC’s website.
Initially, I thought, teams would easily circumvent the mandated availability report by listing every roster player as questionable.
To my surprise, both Wake and State did the opposite – State listed 11 players, and all are listed as “out”; Wake Forest posted 17 players on the report, with 13 listed “out,” three “probable,” and one “questionable.”
A player can be listed for any reason, including injury, illness, personal matter or eligibility issue.
The policy, according to Phillips, was implemented to discourage sports bettors from direct contact with student-athletes for injury information, which obviously could sway betting lines.
I get it, to some degree.
In college football, injuries can certainly factor into the outcome of games.
In college, more so than in the NFL, when a key player is injured, it often has a greater impact and can significantly affect betting lines.
The NFL has more depth and experience, which teams can often use to mitigate the impact of a key player loss.
But coaches can often navigate the injury report, and do so frequently.
Before the season, NC State head coach Dave Doeren said he was not in favor of the injury report system, but would comply.
“I’m not in favor of it, but it doesn’t matter,” Doeren said.
The reason Doeren isn’t a fan of the injury report?
“The reason I’m not in favor is that I think the coaches don’t tell the truth anyway, and I don’t want to put our players’ injuries out there.”
I’m not so sure that Philips’ injury report doesn’t help bettors more than hinder them.
Serious bettors easily obtain injury report information, whether it’s available or not.
That third-string long snapper has to make a living somehow.
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