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Week 13 college football COVID-19 tracker: Florida State-Virginia postponed, Boise State-SJSU canceled

Florida State has had a second consecutive game postponed on gameday.

The Seminoles were scheduled to play Virginia at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday but the ACC announced Saturday morning that the game would be postponed because of COVID-19 cases at FSU.

A week ago, Florida State’s game vs. Clemson was postponed just three hours before kickoff because a backup Clemson offensive lineman who traveled with the team tested positive for coronavirus.

FSU has a game against Duke scheduled for Dec. 5. Assuming the Seminoles and Clemson can agree to play Dec. 12, FSU can play the Tigers on that day and then Virginia on Dec. 19 for both the Cavaliers and Seminoles to play a full schedule.

Boise State-San Jose State called off

A key Mountain West Conference clash between Boise State (4-1) and San Jose State (4-0) was also nixed on Saturday morning. The MWC made the announcement via Twitter:

Colorado schedules San Diego State in place of USC

Colorado’s matchup at USC on Saturday will be declared a no contest, the Pac-12 announced on Thursday night.

USC did not have the maximum number of scholarship players available for the game at a specific position due to a COVID-19 outbreak within the program, meaning the game had to be called off.

“Not contesting this game is very disappointing to our student-athletes and our fans,” the conference said in a statement. “While all of us want to see our student-athletes on the field competing, our number one priority must continue to be the health and safety of all those connected to Pac-12 football programs.”

Colorado will instead host San Diego State on Saturday afternoon, as the two schools had a contingency plan should USC need to cancel. San Diego State’s game with Fresno State had also been canceled this week.

"After the Pac-12 CEO's created some requirements for possible non-conference opponents to fill any vacancies created by cancellations, we moved earlier this week to find a possible opponent to replace the Trojans,” Colorado AD Rick George said. “When San Diego State's game at Fresno State was canceled for similar reasons, we put an agreement in place if USC could not play.”

Ohio State cancels game vs. Illinois

The Buckeyes and Illini are not playing on Saturday after positive tests within the Ohio State program. One of those positive tests is coach Ryan Day. Ohio State has now had two games canceled so far this season. One more cancellation would make the Buckeyes ineligible for the Big Ten title.

Oklahoma pauses activity, postponing WVU game

Oklahoma is now playing West Virginia on Dec. 12.

The Sooners announced Wednesday that they were suspending team activities because of positive COVID-19 tests and that Saturday’s game against West Virginia has been pushed back two weeks.

Oklahoma (6-2) came in at No. 11 in the College Football Playoff rankings on Tuesday and will face Baylor on Dec. 5 before playing West Virginia. Wins in those two games will put the Sooners in the Big 12 title game against either Iowa State, Texas, or Oklahoma State.

Cincinnati vs. Temple canceled

Cincinnati’s game vs. Temple was canceled a day after the Bearcats were ranked at No. 7 in the College Football Playoff rankings.

The American Athletic Conference said Wednesday that Cincy couldn’t play Temple on Saturday because of COVID-19 cases and contact tracing at both schools. The game has been canceled and declared a no contest.

“Though the schools share a common open date Dec. 5, The American’s return-to-play protocols would not allow for a sufficient number of student-athletes to be available for competition on that date,” the conference said.

The inability to play on Dec. 5 is a big deal for Cincinnati if the Bearcats are unable to play that weekend. No. 14 BYU is off on that date and a Cincinnati vs. BYU game had been floated as a way to boost the rankings of the team that wins the game.

But if Cincy can’t play in 10 days, then a potential BYU game is a no-go. That could be significant for both teams if they each finish undefeated.

Washington will play Utah

Washington will play a game this weekend, but it won’t be against BYU.

When Washington’s rivalry game against Washington State was canceled due to COVID-19 cases at WSU, UW AD Jennifer Cohen said that the Huskies would work to find another opponent in WSU’s place.

A logical opponent for the Huskies was undefeated BYU, a team that is looking to boost its College Football Playoff resume — especially after coming in at No. 14 in the first CFP rankings on Tuesday night.

BYU won’t have that shot, however, because Washington will now be playing another Pac-12 team: Utah. The Utes were scheduled to play Arizona State, but ASU’s lingering virus issues caused the conference to cancel that game. Now the Utes will travel to Seattle to play the Huskies on Saturday night.

Last week, the Pac-12 announced that it would allow its members to schedule non-conference games should a Pac-12 team’s conference game get canceled, but only if there were no other conference opponents available before the end of the day Thursday in a given week.

BYU had discussions with Washington, but UW was not able to confirm that a game against the Cougars would take place given the possibility that another Pac-12 opponent could become available. Sure enough, that’s what happened and now the Huskies will host Utah on Saturday night while BYU is left looking for another game to add.

Wisconsin-Minnesota called off, Badgers ineligible for Big Ten title

It appears that Wisconsin is now ineligible for the Big Ten title.

The Badgers’ chances of making it to the Big Ten championship game went down dramatically with a 17-7 loss to Northwestern on Saturday. But those chances are now close to zero with Minnesota unable to play the Badgers on Saturday because of COVID-19 cases and quarantines.

The game has been canceled and is declared a no contest. Minnesota said that it was having to suspend football activities after nine players and six staffers had tested positive for COVID-19 in the last five days.

"The health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches and staff has always been our main priority," Minnesota athletic director Mark Coyle said in a statement. "We have experienced an increase in positive cases recently and have made the responsible decision to pause team activities. We will continue to rely on the guidance of our medical experts as we navigate the next several days. We are doing everything we possibly can to miss the fewest amount of days possible. Our goal is to be healthy enough and ready to compete on December 5 against Northwestern."

The Big Ten said before the season that teams that played fewer than six games during the season would not be eligible for the conference title game, though there is a caveat if the average number of games played around the league falls dramatically. Since Wisconsin missed two games earlier this season because of their own coronavirus outbreak, the Badgers are now up to three cancellations on the season.

The cancellation also means that 2020 will be the first year that Minnesota and Wisconsin won’t play each other since 1906. The schools first played in 1890 and have played a total of 129 games against each other.

Wisconsin now has games remaining against Indiana and Iowa. Minnesota, if it can play on Dec. 5, plays Northwestern next and then ends the regular season against Nebraska.

SEC schedule shuffle

Saturday’s Arkansas at Missouri game has been postponed, causing an array of adjustments to the SEC schedule.

Missouri won’t play Arkansas due to COVID-19 issues among the Razorbacks program. Instead, Missouri will host Vanderbilt on Saturday at Noon ET on SEC Network. Vanderbilt and Missouri were initially scheduled to face off on Oct. 17, but that game was postponed.

With Vanderbilt now playing Missouri, Vandy’s home game against Tennessee originally scheduled for Saturday has been postponed.

In a press release, the SEC said the Tennessee at Vanderbilt game has been postponed “for the purpose of facilitating the rescheduling of the Vanderbilt at Missouri game.” The SEC is attempting to have all 14 of its teams play 10 games this season.

The SEC said that Dec. 19, the day of the SEC championship game, is being considered as a possible date for the Arkansas at Missouri and Tennessee at Vanderbilt games.

“As we continue to adapt to the current realities, it is important to remain flexible as we move forward in the final weeks of the season,” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said. “Contact tracing continues to be the biggest contributing factor to game interruptions. We will continue to manage the remaining weeks of the football schedule to allow for as many games to be played as possible.”

Pac-12 rivalry postponed

The Apple Cup, the annual rivalry game between Washington and Washington State, will not be played as scheduled on Friday.

The game has been called off because Washington State will not have “the minimum number of scholarship players available for the game as a result of a number of positive football student-athlete COVID-19 cases and resulting isolation of additional football student-athletes under contact tracing protocols.”

In a statement, Washington State athletic director Pat Chun said WSU will be below the limit of 53 scholarship players on Friday. WSU’s scheduled game against Stanford last Saturday was also canceled.

“While this is another heartbreaking week for our football program, the health, safety and wellness of our student-athletes, coaches and staff remains our top priority,” Chun said.

Both schools said they will work with the Pac-12 to reschedule the game for a later date this year. The two programs have met 112 times, including on an annual basis dating back to 1945.

Tuesday morning football?

Charlotte’s home game against Western Kentucky has been moved from Saturday to Tuesday, Dec. 1. The game will kick off at a very unique time,10:30 a.m. ET, and air on CBS Sports Network.

The change allows Charlotte to “clear COVID-19 protocols that would have prevented Charlotte from competing this Saturday.”

"We appreciate WKU working with us and the league office to make this game happen," Charlotte athletic director Mike Hill said.

UAB’s final game at Legion field canceled

UAB was set to host Southern Miss on Friday in the Blazers’ final game at Birmingham’s Legion Field. That game is no longer happening.

Southern Miss said Tuesday that the game would be canceled because of COVID-19 cases within its program. It’s the third consecutive canceled game for UAB. The game won’t be made up because Southern Miss already has two makeup games scheduled over the next two weeks.

Week 13 postponed or canceled games

  • Washington at Washington State

  • Western Kentucky at Charlotte (moved to Tuesday, Dec. 1)

  • Louisiana Tech at Florida International (canceled)

  • Arkansas at Missouri (postponed)

  • Tennessee at Vanderbilt (moved to accommodate SEC changes)

  • Southern Miss at UAB (canceled)

  • No. 24 Tulsa at Houston (postponed)

  • Minnesota at No. 18 Wisconsin (canceled)

  • Utah at Arizona State (canceled)

  • Colorado at USC (canceled)

  • San Diego State at Fresno State (canceled)

  • No. 7 Cincinnati at Temple (canceled)

  • Colorado State at Air Force

  • Colorado at USC (canceled, Colorado playing San Diego State)

  • Oklahoma at West Virginia (postponed to Dec. 12)

  • Ohio State at Illinois (canceled)

  • Virginia at Florida State (postponed)

  • San Jose State at Boise State (canceled)

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