Another College Football Game Postponed Due To Coronavirus Outbreak

As more conferences continue to work toward salvaging the 2020 college football season, games are still being postponed because of the coronavirus.

Saturday’s contest between Florida Atlantic and Georgia Southern won’t be played as scheduled because of a coronavirus outbreak within the FAU locker room. The Owls received their first round of positive tests earlier in the week, and more members of the football program tested positive Friday.

“FAU contacted me Monday night and indicated they might not be able to come to Statesboro for our game due to COVID-related reasons with their team. After completing additional testing and contact tracing, FAU contacted us again today to confirm they will not be playing tomorrow,” Georgia Southern Athletic Director Jared Benko said. “We're beyond disappointed we won't be able to play this home game, but this is an evolving situation that changes week to week, day to day. We know first-hand how hard it is to play a game with a large number of players unavailable.”

FAU has at least 18 positives between players and coaches, Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger reported. An entire position group for FAU wasn’t available because of positive tests, according to Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel.

More on Georgia Southern-FAU: The Owls, who had 11 COVID positives within the program earlier this week, received more test results this morning that pushed them to at least 18 positive cases, sources tell @SINow. This includes some on the coaching staff.
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) September 18, 2020

Source: FAU won’t play Georgia Southern in football this weekend. FAU had an outbreak early in the week and received more positive tests this am. FAU had an entire position group that wasn’t available. The game was scheduled for ESPN on Saturday.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) September 18, 2020

Saturday was supposed to mark FAU’s season opener. The team’s next scheduled game is Sept. 26 against Southern Florida.

Georgia Southern played its first game of the season a week ago. The Eagles defeated Campbell 27-26.

Several college football games have already been postponed because of coronavirus outbreaks.

Virginia Tech’s opener last week against North Carolina State was rescheduled for Sept. 26. The contest was moved again amid coronavirus cases on the Virginia Tech campus. The two teams are now scheduled to meet on Dec. 12.

The Big Ten reversed course earlier this week and will attempt to play college football in 2020. The Pac-12 is exploring the possibility of doing the same.