(Photo: Travis Whittaker/WCSN)
For the third consecutive week, an Arizona State football game has been canceled. The Sun Devils announced on Tuesday that they will cancel their home game versus Utah that was scheduled for this Sunday.
Vice President for Athletics and athletic director Ray Anderson released a statement on Tuesday. Similar to last week’s cancelation against Colorado, the Sun Devils could not field a team this week due to being under 53-man minimum threshold.
“We have had to invoke the Pac-12’s football game cancellation policy for this week’s game versus Utah due to not having the minimum number of scholarship players available on account of return-to-play protocols involving CDC-prescribed quarantines by virtue of contact tracing and cardiac testing evaluation results,” Anderson said. “The timing of the previously reported positive results coupled with the return-to-play guidelines have stretched over parts of three weeks, which makes it unsafe for several of our players to compete this Sunday.”
On Friday, November 13, multiple players tested positive for COVID-19, including head coach Herm Edwards.
Edwards released a statement on Monday, saying that he is “feeling much better” and that he plans “to be back on the practice field soon, preparing for our next contest.”
Under the Pac-12 conference’s policy, the game will be declared a no contest.
Arizona State’s next game will be against UCLA at home on December 5. Anderson is hopeful that the team will return to full health and be ready by then.
“Notwithstanding any new issues we are confident in our chances of playing football next week,” Anderson said.
