Baylor-Houston among two games called off due to COVID-19

Houston and Baylor will not meet Saturday in a game the teams added to their schedules just last week.

Additionally, FAU and Georgia Southern confirmed they won’t play Saturday because of the spread of COVID-19 among the Owls.

In Texas, the cancellation undoubtedly will disappoint fans of both Houston and Baylor, who both saw their games called off last week amid COVID-19 issues.

Baylor said Friday the university did not meet the Big 12’s “COVID-19 game cancellation thresholds” for the Houston game.

“The loss of this game is a devastating blow, but in the interest of the health and safety of our student-athletes, we believe we made the necessary decision,” said Mack B. Rhoades, Baylor’s athletic director. “We are incredibly disappointed with the continued delay to the start of our season, and empathize with our student-athletes, fans, coaches, and administrative staff. We are grateful for the support and understanding of the University of Houston.”

College football teams typically set schedules years in advance, but the COVID-19 pandemic is making the ability to react on the fly a necessity.

Baylor was supposed to play its season opener on Sept. 12 against Louisiana Tech, but the Bulldogs had a COVID-19 outbreak and the game was canceled. Houston was scheduled to play Memphis on Friday but that game was postponed last Saturday because of an outbreak within the Tigers program. Baylor’s game with Ole Miss, scheduled for Labor Day weekend, also was canceled. Florida Atlantic informed Georgia Southern earlier this week that their game was in question, Eagles athletic director Jared Benko said.

“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,” 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.”

The teams said they would try to find a date to reschedule the game this season.

Baylor now is set to open its season on Sept. 26 at home against Kansas. Houston will prepare for its scheduled game against North Texas on the same day.

FAU, after cancellations against Minnesota and Stony Brook, also is scheduled to open the season next Saturday, meeting South Florida.

Georgia Southern is 1-0 after a 27-26 win over Campbell and is scheduled to travel to Louisiana next weekend. The Ragin’ Cajuns upset Iowa State in their opener last Saturday, 31-14.

–Field Level Media ()