Florida State hit with 2nd straight game-day COVID-19 postponement
Nov 28, 2020, 11:47 AM
North Carolina State linebacker C.J. Hart Jr. (5) sacks Florida State quarterback Chubba Purdy (12) during the second half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020, in Raleigh, N.C. /The News & Observer via AP, Pool)
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TALLAHASSEE, FLA. (AP) — Florida State has had a home football game postponed on the day it was to be played for the second straight week.
The Atlantic Coast Conference announced Saturday the Seminoles’ game against Virginia would not be played because of COVID-19 issues within Florida State’s program. The game was to have started at 8 p.m. EST.
Florida State athletic director David Coburn said after one positive test on Friday night, contact tracing — along with previous opt outs and injuries — left the team with only 44 scholarship players and some position groups “almost entirely depleted.”
“We deeply regret that many Florida State and Virginia fans have already traveled to the game as well as Virginia’s team,” Coburn said. “We simply had no way of knowing we would not be playing until this morning. We made every effort to play, but we could not do so in a way that was safe for the players.”
In the Mountain West, San Jose State at Boise State was also canceled Saturday morning. Kickoff had seen set for 4 p.m. EST.
Last week, Florida State’s game against Clemson was called off a few hours before a noon start because medical personnel from each school could not agree on whether it was safe to proceed.
Clemson wanted to play after a player who traveled with the team to Tallahassee, Florida, tested positive, but Florida State officials did not want to go ahead with the game.
The decision infuriated Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, who insisted his program had followed protocols and said Florida State used COVID-19 as an excuse to call off a game in which the Tigers were a five-touchdown favorite.
The ACC’s testing protocol requires the final test of players to be done within 24 hours of kickoff.
Florida State’s game against Clemson has not yet been rescheduled though Dec. 12 would be the logical date, with Clemson on the road to playing in the conference title game on Dec. 19.
The Seminoles are scheduled to play next week at Duke.
Across major college football 17 of 58 games scheduled for this weekend have been postponed or canceled, including No. 3 Ohio State at Illinois.
Elsewhere Saturday, the start of the Rice-UTEP football game in Houston was delayed because of a second round of virus testing.
