ASU-Cal Game Canceled as Herm Edwards, Others Test Positive for COVID-19
Saturday's game between Arizona State and California has been canceled due to multiple positive COVID-19 cases among Sun Devils athletes and staff, the Pac-12 announced Friday. ASU coach Herm Edwards is among those positive.
The game will not be rescheduled and has been deemed a no contest under Pac-12 policy.
"This decision was made under the Pac-12’s football game cancellation policy due to Arizona State 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," the conference said in a statement.
Edwards, 66, released a statement saying that he and his family are "fine" and encouraged others to "take this virus seriously, to wear a mask, practice physical distancing and get tested whenever possible."
The ASU-Cal game joins a long list of cancellations and postponements in college football in Week 11. The SEC has been impacted the most, with four out of their seven contests this week postponed.
Instead, Cal will play its first game of the season on Sunday, Nov. 15 against UCLA at the Rose Bowl after both teams had their original Week 11 matchups canceled due to COVID-19. The Bruins were originally scheduled to face Utah on Saturday before the Utes had a number of players test positive for COVID-19.
Arizona State played its first game of the season on Nov. 7, which resulted in a 28–27 loss to USC. Meanwhile, Cal had its Week 10 game against Washington canceled due to a COVID-19 case among the Bears' program.
The Pac-12 implemented daily rapid-result COVID-19 testing as part of its restart plan. Each team was scheduled to play a seven-game regular season with the Pac-12 championship game taking place the weekend of Dec. 18–19.