Pitt vs. Georgia Tech won't be played Saturday due to COVID-19
The 11th week of the 2020 college football season is now up to 11 postponements or cancellations, a new record high.
Pitt announced Thursday that it wouldn’t play Georgia Tech on Saturday because of COVID-19. The school said it had suspended practices and activities due to COVID-19, but did not say how many players or staffers had tested positive or been placed in quarantine due to contact tracing.
The game has been postponed to Dec. 12.
"While I know our team was excited and prepared to play a game on Saturday, this is the right and responsible decision for our student-athletes and staff," Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi said in a statement. "We have great doctors at Pitt and they have given us the very best guidance throughout this entire pandemic. Our team knows we've had to be agile this year. We will continue to assemble virtually until we're given the green light."
Georgia Tech said it would have been unable to play the game as well.
“It’s unfortunate that we will not be able to play this Saturday as scheduled, but the decision was made in the best interests of the health and safety of both teams,” Georgia Tech athletic director Todd Stansbury said in a statement. “For our team in particular, a combination of on-field injuries, Covid-19 contact tracing and a relatively low number of positive Covid-19 tests left us unable to field the requisite number of student-athletes needed to compete, particularly at certain positions.”
Rice-Louisiana Tech, North Texas-UAB follow suit
Shortly after Pitt and Georgia Tech said its game had been postponed, Rice and Louisiana Tech announced that they wouldn’t play on Saturday due to COVID-19 cases at Louisiana Tech. Rice currently has games scheduled through Dec. 12, so a makeup date was not immediately announced.
"I'm proud of how our team has kept themselves ready to compete, but as we continue to see, this is the reality of playing college football in a pandemic," Rice athletic director Joe Karlgaard said in a statement. "I know it's frustrating for our student-athletes and coaches as well as for our fans, and I share your frustration. All we can do is prepare to play each week and hope that both teams are healthy enough to tee it up."
North Texas and UAB announced on Thursday night that their matchup this weekend has been canceled, too, due to a coronavirus outbreak within the UAB program. Their game marks the 11th of the week, an all-time high. It’s unclear if the game will be rescheduled.
"We are disappointed for our student-athletes that we won't be playing our football game Saturday at UAB, especially since we were finally healthy and excited to get back to playing," North Texas athletic director Wren Baker said in a statement. "We understand the situation that UAB is in and we know that they are making this decision based on the health and safety of their student-athletes. We appreciate the communication with UAB and we look forward to hosting Rice next weekend."
Four SEC games postponed in Week 11
There were 10 postponements or cancellations in Week 10 and the trend of games unable to be played has continued into Week 11 as coronavirus cases continue to spike across the entire United States. The Pitt-Georgia Tech game is the first ACC game of the weekend to get postponed.
The conference most heavily hit by postponements in Week 11 is the SEC. The conference has lost four of its seven games this weekend because of COVID-19. That number includes No. 1 Alabama’s game vs. LSU and No. 5 Texas A&M’s game against Tennessee.
No. 3 Ohio State’s game against Maryland was canceled Wednesday. It will not be made up because the Big Ten does not have any off weeks built into its modified schedule.
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
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