The Music City Bowl, between Missouri and Iowa, was canceled on Sunday because editions of the covid-19 left the Tigers unable to play.
The game scheduled for Wednesday in Nashville, Tennessee, is the second bowl canceled since the postseason schedule was set on December 20, joining the Gasparilla Bowl. Overall, 18 bowl games scheduled for this season have been canceled.
Missouri Athletic Director Jim Sterk said the team had “a significant increase in positive covid-19 tests among our student-athletes, coaches and staff” since the end of the regular season.
Missouri is the third SEC team that had to give up its bowling game, joining Tennessee and South Carolina. The Army managed to replace Tennessee in the Liberty Bowl against West Virginia to save the game. South Carolina’s covid-19 issues left Alabama-Birmingham without an opponent in the Gasparilla Bowl.
Iowa was in the same situation, with no replacement available in the short term.
“We are extremely disappointed with the end of our season today,” said Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz. “This is a remarkable group of players and men, and it was an honor to coach them.”
Ferentz added that the Hawkeyes “overcame several challenges together during a season like no other.” The coach himself tested positive for covid-19 earlier this month and the program was shaken over the summer by allegations by former players of systemic racism.
The pandemic continues to disrupt other college sports. Villanova announced on Sunday that trainer Jay Wright tested positive for covid-19 and the fifth place Wildcats disrupted basketball activities, including Saturday’s game against Xavier. Syracuse has also paused all activities related to women’s basketball and contact tracking is in progress after a positive covid-19 test for 22nd place Orange.
The Music City Bowl appeared to be in danger last week because Iowa disrupted football activities due to covid-19 cases, but the Hawkeyes resumed training this weekend.
Iowa (6-2) had all eight games scheduled for the regular season before having their first Big Ten championship weekend match against Michigan canceled and now their bowl too.
Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz ends his first season with a two-game skid and a 5-5 record.
“I am extremely proud of the struggle and resilience that our players have shown throughout this challenging season,” he said. “This is the eighth time in 11 games that we have faced a schedule adjustment, but we were able to fight and finish while competing at a very high level throughout the season, which I believe shows the true character of our team.”