Houston vs. Baylor football game canceled

Update 2:25 p.m.: Baylor releases a statement on the cancelation:

The highly sought-after match-up between Baylor and Houston has been postponed, and will not be played on Sept. 19. This decision comes as a result of Baylor not meeting the Big 12 Conference COVID-19 game cancellation thresholds. Both Baylor and Houston have agreed to honor the future home and home schedule, as well as monitor dates for future scheduling opportunities.

”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 Baylor Director of Athletics Mack B. Rhoades. “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, Athletic director Chris Pezman, and Chancellor Khator. We look forward to a future home and home match-up.”

”We’re heartbroken from this postponement,” said Head Coach Dave Aranda. “While we’ve been eager to play football this fall, we have all made a commitment to only do so with the highest level of safety and care for our student-athletes. We are disappointed for our team, staff, and our fans, but look forward with great anticipation to renewing this rivalry in the future.”

Covid-19 claims its seventh game this weekend, as the Houston Cougars and Baylor Bears won’t play due to Covid-19. The report comes from SicEm365.com.

This game on only scheduled six days ago because Houston was forced to reschedule their game with Memphis, and Louisiana Tech was unable to field a full squad against Baylor. So a game that was impromptu itself is no unable to be played because of even more positive tests.

Baylor was a 3.5-point favorite in Waco, and it looks like the decision was Baylor’s call. The teams don’t have a mutual open date through the end of the season, which makes finding a day to play this game even more unlikely.

It appears it wasn’t actual positive tests that will keep this game from being played, instead it’s the required contract tracing that will keep enough players out of action.

Due to local goverment guidelines, contact tracing, not positive results of conducted COVID-19 tests on football players and staff members, led to the decision to cancel the game. Because of the guidelines in place, multiple Baylor players were set to miss the game as a direct result of contact tracing and not due to positive COVID-19 tests, the source said.

This marks the seventh college football game in Week 3 that has been postponed or canceled due to Covid-19.