The Washington State Cougars at Stanford Cardinal football game has been canceled due to COVID-19, the Pac-12 announced on Friday.
The two schools were scheduled to meet at Stanford Stadium in Stanford, Calif., on Saturday, Nov. 21. The game was canceled due to “…Washington State not having 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.”
The Pac-12 is declaring the matchup a no contest and there is no plan to reschedule the game.
“Based on a number of factors, our team has fallen below the Pac-12’s minimum threshold of 53 available scholarship student-athletes to play a game,” Washington State Director of Athletics Pat Chun said. “We are saddened for not only our student-athletes, coaches and staff, but those within the Stanford program, who have worked so hard preparing for this weekend. We have been in communication with the Pac-12 Conference and Stanford Director of Athletics Bernard Muir throughout the week, hoping to be able to play the game as scheduled.
“We have built health and safety protocols in consultation with campus, Pac-12 Conference, NCAA, local, state and federal guidelines, and continue to follow them, ensuring that the safety of all Pac-12 student-athletes, coaches and staff continues to be our top priority.”
Washington State’s next scheduled game is the Apple Cup at home against the Washington Huskies on Friday, Nov. 27. The game is scheduled for 10:30pm ET and will be televised by ESPN.
“I’m disappointed for our team and our players. They have battled through so much this year,” Washington State University Head Football Coach Nick Rolovich said. “We had a good week of practice and were excited to play this game. I recognize the pain they feel with this lost opportunity but this 2020 football team is a resilient group of young men.”
Stanford is also scheduled to return to the gridiron on Friday, Nov. 27 when they travel to face the California Golden Bears. The game will be televised by FOX at 3:30pm ET.
Football Schedules
If I’m a PAC-12 school looking to re-schedule games against any non-conference opponents, I try to go out and schedule a game against #21 Liberty. Liberty currently has 10 games scheduled and can probably scheduled two more with their flexibility. Also, if you’re a PAC-12 school and you do schedule Liberty, there’s a chance at beating a ranked team.