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Utah vs. UCLA canceled; Pac-12 schedules UCLA to play Cal on Sunday

Nick Bromberg
·College football and motorsports writer
Updated ·3-min read

Utah will not start its 2020 football season on Saturday while UCLA will play on Sunday.

The Pac-12 announced Friday that the Utes’ game vs. UCLA had been canceled because Utah would be unable to field a complete roster due to COVID-19 quarantines and positive tests. It’s the 15th Week 11 game to be canceled or postponed and the second Pac-12 game of the weekend to get canceled.

“This decision was made under the Pac-12’s football game cancellation policy due to Utah 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. Under conference policy, the game will be declared a no contest.”

Cal vs. Arizona State canceled

Utah’s game against Arizona scheduled for Nov. 7 was canceled last week after Utah was dealing with COVID-19 positives. Utah athletic director Mark Harlan said that the team had one additional positive test on Friday and that test meant the game couldn’t be played.

Earlier Friday, Arizona State announced that its game against Cal had been canceled because of myriad positive COVID-19 tests among Sun Devils players and staffers. One of the positives at Arizona State is coach Herm Edwards. He said he was feeling fine.

Utah running back Devonta'e Henry-Cole (7) out runs UCLA defensive back Elisha Guidry (20) on his way to a touchdown in the second half during an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 16, 2019, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Utah and UCLA won't play each other this year. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

UCLA vs. Cal at Noon ET on Sunday

Since Cal and UCLA were in need of a game, the Pac-12 decided to have the two teams play each other. The conference announced Friday afternoon that UCLA would host Cal at 9 a.m. PT on Sunday. The game will be on Fox Sports 1.

We’ll get a chance on Sunday to see what a football game looks like between teams that haven’t prepared for each other. And it’s also the first time a major conference has scheduled a replacement game 48 hours in advance because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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It’s a move that makes sense from the Pac-12’s perspective. The conference scheduled just six regular-season games for each of its schools. And Cal would have been staring at the prospect of four regular-season games without a game this weekend.

15 games canceled in Week 11

The list of games being canceled or postponed in Week 11 continues to grow. The 15 canceled or postponed games are five more than were canceled or postponed in Week 10. Those 25 postponements or cancellations — so far — come as coronavirus cases are spiking across the country.

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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.

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