Yahoo Finance Texas Bowl between Arkansas and TCU becomes latest bowl canceled due to COVID-19
There will be no bowl game on New Year’s Eve night.
The Texas Bowl announced Tuesday that Thursday night’s game between TCU and Arkansas has been canceled due to COVID-19 cases at TCU. The two teams were set to play in the final college football game of 2020.
— Mercari Texas Bowl (@TexasBowl) December 29, 2020
The game is the second bowl game canceled in the last three days. The Music City Bowl was forced to cancel on Sunday after COVID-19 cases at Missouri.
“Over the last 24 hours, between a combination of COVID-19 related issues, injuries and other circumstances, we have fallen below the established Big 12 Conference threshold for student-athlete availability that we have abided by all season,” TCU athletic director Jeremiah Donati said in a statement. “As such, we very regrettably will not be able to participate in Thursday night’s Mercari Texas Bowl against Arkansas.”
Bowl cancellations have significantly impacted the SEC. The Texas Bowl is the fourth game involving an SEC team that either won’t be played or won’t feature an SEC team. The Gasparilla Bowl was also canceled after South Carolina said it was unable to play and Tennessee was forced to back out of the Liberty Bowl because of COVID-19. Army took the Volunteers’ place in the Liberty Bowl.
The Texas Bowl is the 16th bowl game that has been canceled this season due to COVID-19. Ten FBS bowl games were canceled before bowl season began and six games have been canceled since the end of the regular season. The Guaranteed Rate Bowl, the Independence Bowl and the Military Bowl were canceled on Dec. 20 because there weren’t enough willing teams to play in bowl games.
The Texas Bowl cancellation means that Arkansas will finish the season at 3-7 and TCU will end the season at 6-4.
There are still three games scheduled for New Year’s Eve. Tulsa plays Mississippi State in the Armed Forces Bowl, Ball State plays San Jose State in the Arizona Bowl and West Virginia will play Army in the Liberty Bowl.
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