Saturday's Utah-UCLA football game at the Rose Bowl canceled, due to COVID-19 - Salt Lake Tribune

The Pac-12 announced Friday afternoon that Saturday’s Utah-UCLA football game, scheduled for Saturday night at the Rose Bowl, has been canceled.

And the reason is that Utah could not meet the minumum 53-player roster for the game, due to continued positive tests for COVID-19. The same issue scuttled the Utes' scheduled season opener against Arizona a week ago.

“The Pac-12 has, after consultation with Utah, canceled the Utah at UCLA football game scheduled for November 14,” the conference said in a statement. “This decision was made under the Pac-12′s football game cancellation policy due to Utah 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. Under conference policy, the game will be declared a no contest.”

The Utes currently have 17 confirmed positive cases among the players, coaches and staff, and an additional 11 members of the program are now in quarantine due to contact tracing protocols, the school said in a statement.

Utah football coach Kyle Whittingham said he was hoping for the best this week — but also bracing for the worst.

“We went into this week knowing it was a day-to-day situation,” Whittingham said in a statement. “We have been doing everything we can under the circumstances to prepare for the game and follow all guidelines and protocols. As is always the case, the health and safety of our student-athletes come first.”

Added Utah athletic director Mark Harlan:

“Our community is especially hard-hit right now by this virus, and our team and our department have been doing everything possible to follow protocols and avoid the spread of the virus,” he said in a statement. “We were doing very well, day-by-day, and it is extremely difficult for our student-athletes and coaches that they will not be able to compete again this week.

“We also acknowledge the disappointment for our fans, and we know how upsetting it is for UCLA’s football program,” Harlan continued. "We have maintained close communication with UCLA and we were very hopeful this game would be played. As I have said from the beginning of the pandemic, the well-being and safety of our student-athletes remains our top priority and guides all of our decisions and we are following the recommendations of medical professionals.”

This story will be updated.

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Saturday's Utah-UCLA football game at the Rose Bowl canceled, due to COVID-19 - Salt Lake Tribune
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