With COVID-19 still raging across the country, it was long expected that many college football games would be postponed if not outright canceled over the course of the season. As we enter Week 7 of the 2020 season, there have now been 32 games affected by COVID-19 with most postponements coming as a result of contact tracing protocols that require players to quarantine for 14 days if they are deemed to have been in high-risk contact with someone who has tested positive for the coronavirus. Six such games have been canceled or postponed just this week.
Some teams, such as Houston, Memphis, Baylor, FAU, Virginia Tech, Arkansas State, Charlotte and Rice have already experienced multiple game disruptions. Even those who have not seen a game postponed yet are living day-by-day as COVID-19 test results and subsequent contact tracing dictate if — and how effectively — they will be able to play as scheduled.
Now, a pair of SEC programs have been hit hard and forced to postpone games. Both Vanderbilt and Florida had numerous positive cases ahead of Week 7 and were forced to delay games against Missouri and LSU, respectively. The SEC left an open week before the conference championship game as a buffer for makeup games that will now be in use by four teams on Dec. 12.
The Big Ten and Pac-12 announced they plan to conduct daily testing, which should help programs identify positive cases quickly and reduce the burden of contact tracing. But even with daily testing, successfully holding a season with no bye weeks leading up to the College Football Playoff will be a challenge.
Here is the full list of college football game postponements.
| GAME | ORIGINAL DATE | NEW DATE |
|---|---|---|
| ULM at Troy | Sept. 5 | Dec. 5 |
| SMU at TCU | Sept. 11 | TBD |
| NC State at Virginia Tech | Sept. 12 | Sept. 26 |
| Marshall at East Carolina | Sept. 12 | TBD |
| Tulsa at Oklahoma State | Sept. 12 | Sept. 19 |
| Louisiana Tech at Baylor* | Sept. 12 | TBD |
| Houston at Memphis | Sept. 18 | TBD |
| BYU at Army | Sept. 19 | TBD |
| Virginia at Virginia Tech | Sept. 19 | Dec. 12 |
| Central Arkansas at Arkansas State | Sept. 19 | Oct. 10 |
| Charlotte at North Carolina | Sept. 19 | Canceled |
| FAU at Georgia Southern | Sept. 19 | Dec. 5 |
| Houston at Baylor* | Sept. 19 | TBD |
| Memphis at UTSA | Sept. 25 | Canceled |
| Georgia State at Charlotte | Sept. 26 | TBD |
| Notre Dame at Wake Forest | Sept. 26 | Dec. 12 |
| North Texas at Houston | Sept. 26 | TBD |
| Tulsa at Arkansas State | Sept. 26 | TBD |
| South Florida at FAU | Sept. 26 | TBD |
| Temple at Navy | Sept. 26 | Oct. 10 |
| Rice at Marshall | Oct. 3 | TBD |
| Troy at South Alabama | Oct. 3 | Dec. 12 |
| Louisiana at Appalachian State | Oct. 3 | Dec. 4 or 5 |
| UAB at Rice | Oct. 10 | TBD |
| FAU at Southern Miss | Oct. 10 | TBD |
| Appalachian State at Georgia Southern | Oct. 14 | Dec. 12 |
| Oklahoma State at Baylor | Oct. 17 | Dec. 12 |
| Vanderbilt at Missouri | Oct. 17 | Dec. 12 |
| LSU at Florida | Oct. 17 | Dec. 12 |
| Cincinnati at Tulsa | Oct. 17 | Dec. 5 |
| FIU at Charlotte | Oct. 17 | TBD |
| Southern Miss at UTEP | Oct. 17 | TBD |
* Baylor can only make up one nonconference game due to league scheduling rules.
—CBS SPORTS