COVID-19 causes Tech vs. ULM to cancel
Like Lucy yanking the football out from under Charlie Brown, COVID-19 has again forced the cancellation of a third straight Louisiana Tech football game.
Officials from both Tech and the University of Louisiana at Monroe announced late Monday morning that the game scheduled for Saturday between the Bulldogs and Warhawks at Independence Stadium in Shreveport has been canceled due to COVID-19 issues within the ULM football program.
The Tech vs. ULM match-up was added to the teams’ schedules in August as both the Bulldogs and Warhawks had already lost scheduled games due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are very disappointed that this game won’t take place,” said Tech Vice President and Director of Athletics Eric Wood. “We were in a much better place from a health standpoint within our program after Friday and Sunday’s tests and were ready to go. However, after talking to (ULM Athletics Director) Scott McDonald this morning, they are not in a similar situation. It’s unfortunate, but it’s the world we are maneuvering through right now.
“I hate it for our student-athletes and our fans, but we will continue to move forward. We are working with the conference office to see if there are any other possibilities, but it’s too early to know right now. We appreciate everyone’s understanding.”
McDonald explained the Warhawks’ situation in a press release.
“We’re extremely disappointed to announce the cancellation of this much anticipated game,” McDonald said in that release. “Two rounds of COVID-19 tests following the team’s road trip to Georgia State required the isolation and quarantine of some student-athletes, coaches and administrators.
“Following the CDC and Sun Belt Conference protocols for positive tests and subsequent contact tracing, it is clear that our student-athletes and coaches don’t have adequate time to safely prepare for Saturday’s game. I will reach out to Dr. Eric Wood to begin discussions about renewing this rivalry in the very near future.”
Tech’s game against Rice scheduled for last weekend at Joe Aillet Stadium was canceled late Thursday afternoon due to health and safety concerns within the Bulldog program.
Due to injuries, COVID positive cases and contact tracing, the Bulldogs had a position group that was too thin to play that game without risking the health of its players.
Tech’s game scheduled for Nov. 7 at North Texas was called off Nov. 5 due to COVID-19 cases and contact tracing within the Mean Green program and on Nov. 6 was rescheduled for 5 p.m. Dec. 3 in a game that is set to be televised live on the CBS Sports Network.
Tech also had its originally-scheduled season opener at Baylor on Sept. 12 canceled after the Bears suffered a COVID-19 outbreak.
The Bulldogs also had games scheduled against Prairie View A&M, Nevada-Las Vegas and Vanderbilt called off because of the pandemic. The Bulldogs filled the Prairie View date by playing Houston Baptist for their home opener, played a road game at Brigham Young to fill the void left by the cancellation of the UNLV match-up and had added ULM to fill the upcoming weekend’s originally scheduled game at Vanderbilt.
