The Cincinnati Bearcats at Temple Owls football game has been canceled due to COVID-19, it was announced on Wednesday.
The two schools were scheduled to meet at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pa., on Saturday, Nov. 28. The game will not be played due to “…positive COVID-19 cases and the ensuing contact tracing of student-athletes at both institutions.”
The Cincinnati-Temple football game will not be rescheduled and will be declared a no-contest. Per Cincinnati’s release, the two schools share Dec. 5 as an open date but “…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.”
Cincinnati (8-0, 6-0 American) is currently ranked seventh in the College Football Playoff Rankings. The Bearcats are next scheduled to play on Saturday, Dec. 12 at the Tulsa Golden Hurricane.
“I have held firm that the health and safety of our student-athletes is the most important thing to me,” Temple Head Coach Rod Carey said. “We were on the borderline of shutting down for the past few weeks but with an increase in COVID protocol cases in the past few days, the decision was made to shut it down.
“This COVID-19 pandemic is real and it affects us in many ways. I’m really proud of our team and this staff for all the work they put in to be ready to play each week. Our record is not indicative of how tough and relentless this group of young men are.
“I think it will be good to step away from football for a moment and let the players finish up the school semester strong. We all look forward to decompressing, learning from this experience, and coming back stronger in 2021.”
Temple (1-6, 1-6 American) has no more regular-season games scheduled and appears to be finished with the 2020 season.
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