The college football schedule has turned upside down for the second week in a row, and with three days left of testing and vetting, more teams will cancel matches — and maybe their seasons — as the sport is on the precipice.
An infection spike in college football remains a reflection of what’s happening in the rest of the country. On Tuesday, the coronavirus counters at Johns Hopkins reported 161,934 new COVID-19 cases and 1,707 deaths — the third-highest daily totals since March. With them, the US crossed two horrifying benchmarks — more than 11 million cases and 250,000 with fatal results.
Kansas vs. Texas is Latest Game Shelved
The Kansas vs. Texas football game scheduled for Saturday in Lawrence, Kansas, has been postponed due to a combination of injuries and COVID-19 issues for Kansas. The game’s new date is Dec. 12.
“Since November 8, the KU football program has performed 825 COVID-19 tests with five returning positive on different testing days during that time span,†Kansas said in a release.
Louisiana-Lafayette became the latest school to announce on Wednesday that they are canceling their Saturday finale due to positive COVID-19 tests and contact tracing. The Ragin’ Cajuns didn’t hold practices on Tuesday and hope to get back to the field after the weekend, officials said. Louisiana-Lafayette’s next game is Nov. 28 against Louisiana-Monroe.
“There has been an unfortunate uptick in coronavirus cases around the country,†head coach Billy Napier said. “Now more than ever, we must remain committed to being safe, following proper protocols and mitigating further spread of the virus,â€
Complete List of Week 12 Postponements and Cancellations (as of Wednesday)
- Texas at Kansas—Postponed
- Arizona State at Colorado—Canceled
- UL Monroe at Louisiana Tech—Canceled
- Wake Forest at Duke—Postponed
- Navy at University of South Florida—Postponed
- Ohio at Miami of Ohio—Canceled
- UAB at UTEP—Canceled
- Ole Miss at (No. 5) Texas A&M—Postponed
- Georgia Tech at (No. 12) Miami—Postponed
- Charlotte at (No. 15) Marshall—Postponed
- Houston at SMU—Postponed
- Central Arkansas at Louisiana-Lafayette—Canceled
- Utah State at Wyoming—Canceled
- UNLV at Colorado State—Postponed
Other College Football Conferences Decimated
The Mountain West Conference announced Wednesday that Utah State won’t square off against Wyoming on Thursday due to an outbreak. The conference declared the game a no contest. Utah State’s next scheduled game is Nov. 26 against New Mexico.
The American Athletic Conference announced it’s postponing both Houston at SMU and Navy at University of South Florida due to COVID-19. Conference officials said they’d attempt to reschedule the matchups.
“We reached a point this week where the decision was clear that it was in their best interest to postpone this week’s game,†USF Vice President of Athletics Michael Kelly said in a statement on Wednesday.
Pac-12 Scrambles to Find Opponents
According to San Jose Mercury News reporter Jon Wilner, Pac-12 officials discussed lifting the 2020 ban on non-conference games on Wednesday as schools are being subjected to last-minute rescheduling or no-contest cancellations.
If you're going to make a case for the #Pac12 to play non-conference games, the connection btwn bye weeks and outbreaks is compelling https://t.co/BrgTldL2z9
— Jon Wilner (@wilnerhotline) November 18, 2020
FOX college football reporter Bruce Feldman corroborated the rumor, but said the commission’s AD’s haven’t officially voted.
Source tells me that Pac-12 ADs didn't actually vote on issue of allowed teams to schedule non-conference games if their game got cancelled due to Covid but they did discuss it and are generally supportive of the idea and are still getting feedback. https://t.co/5c0mf2Eif4
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) November 18, 2020
Who Wants Saturday’s Prime Time Slot?
In the meantime, if there was any doubt that this season is in dire straits, look no further than CBS’ prime time slot for Saturday, which will feature Nevada (4-0) vs. San Jose State (4-0) in a battle for supremacy in the Mountain West.
