BEVO BEAT Football
Saturday’s No. 22 Texas-Kansas game postponed to Dec. 12 after COVID-19 testing
Jayhawks announce the school could not meet the minimum number of players at a certain position
Posted November 18th, 2020
Saturday’s game between No. 22 Texas and Kansas has been postponed according to the Big 12’s game interruption guidelines, the league announced Wednesday. The game will be rescheduled for Dec. 12.
Kansas officials announced the Jayhawks could not “meet the minimum position requirements” established by the league office. “The position group affected has a combination of injuries and contact tracing,” the school said.
Since Nov. 8, Kansas football players have undergone 825 tests for COVID-19 with five positives on different days during that span, Kansas officials said in a statement.
🗓️ 🖊️#Big12FB 𝚜𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚍𝚞𝚕𝚎 𝚞𝚙𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚎: @TexasFootball at @KU_Football, originally scheduled for Nov. 21, has been postponed and rescheduled for Dec. 12.
➡️ https://t.co/U2XAUe1WrP pic.twitter.com/5cT2khhpkg
— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) November 18, 2020
Before the season began, the Big 12 established that each team must have 53 healthy players and certain numbers at specific positions. Teams must have at least seven offensive linemen, four defensive linemen and one quarterback.
The Longhorns (5-2, 4-2 Big 12) were coming off a bye week. Now, they will have two weeks between games. Texas’ next scheduled game is at home against Iowa State on Nov. 27. The Jayhawks are 0-7.
Texas has done remarkably well with COVID-19 testing since the season began. Multiple sources have said the Horns went through an outbreak over the summer. Since that time, Texas coaches have stressed the importance of taking all the necessary precautions.
Still, outbreaks are happening on college campuses as November moves forward. Last week, 15 games were either canceled or postponed because of COVID-19. So far this week, 14 games have been changed. Texas A&M’s game against Ole Miss was among the postponements. That game has also been reslated for Dec. 12.
More postponements or cancelations are possible this week as teams go through mid-week COVID testing.
Texas coach Tom Herman still believes this season counts. The Big 12 still plans on playing a championship game on Dec. 19 in Arlington.
“That would be unfair to every single player that that put their body on the line this season to say that it doesn’t count or in some way is that the result is lessened, because of any circumstance outside of their control,” Herman said Monday.
“It’s a minor miracle that we’re sitting here in the middle of November,” he added, “and we’re just a few weeks away from a conference championship game.”
Contact Brian Davis at 512-445-3957. Email bdavis@statesman.com.
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