FAU and South Florida announced Wednesday that their game scheduled for Saturday will be postponed "due to issues involving the novel coronavirus." The game is the 21st FBS contest to be postponed or canceled due to the pandemic, joining Notre Dame-Wake Forest and Arkansas State-Tulsa as games originally scheduled for Saturday that were postponed Wednesday.
"With the health and safety of our student-athletes and staff as well as mitigating the spread of the virus as our primary concern, given the outbreak among team members of our most recent opponent and subsequent contact tracing within our team, postponement of this Saturday's game at FAU is the right thing to do," South Florida athletic director Michael Kelly said in a statement.
Kelly's reference to South Florida's most recent opponent was a nod to Notre Dame, which announced that seven of 94 players tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday just two days after the Irish beat USF. As for FAU, the postponement is the second time the beginning of the Willie Taggart era has been delayed. The Owls had a game against Georgia Southern scheduled for Sept. 19 postponed due to COVID-19 protocols.
The teams currently have mutual off date on Nov. 21 but have not committed to a date for rescheduling the game yet.
"We were aware going into this season and have seen across the country that dealing with COVID-19 and taking the necessary precautions to mitigate its spread will present ongoing challenges," Kelly said. "We are prepared to deal with those challenges and move forward in a safe manner We will resume on-field team activities once our medical professionals are comfortable with us doing so and will work in good faith with FAU to identify a future date to reschedule the game."
