BERKELEY, CA – NOVEMBER 16: California Golden Bears head coach Justin Wilcox glances up while playing the USC Trojans in the fourth quarter of their game at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif., on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2019. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
Cal football’s season opener will have to wait. The Pac-12 approved Cal’s request to cancel its game Saturday night against Washington after the Bears were left short-handed after a positive COVID-19 test and subsequent contact tracing.
The Pac-12 announced Thursday the scheduled game Saturday at 7:30 p.m. will not be made up and will be declared a no contest.
“The health and safety of our student-athletes and all those connected to Pac-12 football programs will continue to be our number one priority,” the conference said, just three days after it unveiled its in-season COVID-19 protocols for the seven-game, seven-week Pac-12 season.
The Cal player who tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this week after his daily antigen test and follow up PCR test remains asymptomatic. He was the first member of the football program to test positive since Cal began daily testing at the start of October. Because of school and Berkeley Public Health protocols for contact tracing, the athletics department said several players are in quarantine, which affected the team’s ability to field a competitive roster.
Cal coach Justin Wilcox and Cal athletic director Jim Knowlton both agreed that team would be missing too many players to be able to adequately compete against Washington on Saturday. They said the Bears would have been left with very few scholarship players for the scheduled game at Memorial Stadium.
Wilcox had told reporters Wednesday the large number of players who are in quarantine would present “a significant hurdle” for the openers.
Knowlton then formally made the request of the Pac-12 to call things off Saturday.
“We know how much our team and the greater Cal Athletics community was looking forward to the start of the football season this weekend. While we are disappointed in our inability to play this week, we are confident that we have made the right decision,” Knowlton said in a statement. “As we have seen across the country, we knew that there would be COVID-19 challenges, and we will continue to follow our protocols to support the health of our student-athletes.”
The expectation is that Cal will be able to play its next scheduled game against Arizona State on Saturday, Nov. 14 in Tempe, Ariz.
The cancellation of Saturday’s game means that Cal’s first home game this season will be The Big Game when Stanford visits Memorial Stadium on Friday, Nov. 27, the day after Thanksgiving.
Thursday’s news came about an hour after Washington coach Jimmy Lake had finished telling local reporters the game in Berkeley was still on.
Washington athletic director Jen Cohen said while her school was “deeply disappointed” in the cancellation, those in the Huskies program understand why it needed to happen.
“The policies and protocols developed by the Pac-12, local and state officials placed the health and safety of students, coaches and staff at the forefront,” Cohen said, adding they’ve now turned their attention to their new opener against Oregon State next week.
