SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Nov. 8, 2020 (Gephardt Daily) — The Pac-12 Conference has granted the University of Utah’s request to change the date of this coming week’s football game at UCLA to Saturday, Nov. 14.
It was originally scheduled for Friday, Nov. 13, said a news release from U of U Athletics.
The game is now scheduled to kick off at 8:30 p.m. mountain time and will be televised on FOX.
“We greatly appreciate the understanding and flexibility of UCLA, the Pac-12 and our conference television rights holders to consider the challenges we have been working through over the past several days with regard to our recent increases in positive COVID-19 cases within our football program,” said Utah Director of Athletics Mark Harlan. “After two consecutive days of no positive COVID-19 test results we are encouraged that we can resume practice on Monday in preparation for this week’s game at UCLA. We continue to rigorously reinforce all health and safety protocols related to the virus throughout our department.”
Utah’s season-opening game scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 7 against Arizona was declared a no contest by the Pac-12 after Utah’s program experienced a rash of positive cases among student-athletes and staff, and fell below the threshold of 53 available scholarship student-athletes.
“While we are encouraged by all indicators today that our football program may proceed with preparations for this week’s game, we also recognize the challenges presented by the virus and that our status could change as we continue our daily testing program,” Harlan continued. “We will continue to be guided by our medical professionals in all of our decisions and prioritize the well-being and safety of our student-athletes, as I have said from the beginning of the pandemic. Again, I want to express my gratitude to UCLA and to the Pac-12 Conference for their understanding and partnership.”
