Fans gather on Tuesday, December 29, 2020, near a long line of buses south of Razorback Stadium on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville as they wait to cheer for Arkansas football. The buses were there to take the Arkansas football team to Northwest Arkansas National Airport to play a game of bowling planned with TCU. The game was canceled moments before the team’s departure. (Andy Shupe)
FAYETTEVILLE ?? The confrontation between Arkansas and the TCU at the Texas Bowl on Thursday was canceled.
The game was canceled due to an increase in the number of positive covid-19 tests and other circumstances within the Horned Frogs football program, according to a statement.
Arkansas will not face a substitute opponent in the game that was originally scheduled to start at 7 pm at NRG Stadium in Houston. Razorbacks’ last season record is 3-7 against all SEC opponents.
“In the past 24 hours, between a combination of COVID-19-related problems, injuries and other circumstances, we have fallen below the Big 12 Conference’s established threshold for student-athlete availability that we have met throughout the season,” TCU’s athletics director , Jeremiah Donati said in a statement. “As such, we are unfortunately unable to participate in the Thursday night Mercari Texas Bowl against Arkansas.
“Health and safety considerations for our student-athletes are always our priority. Our entire football program, from our student-athletes to coaches and staff, is incredibly sad, disappointed and heartbroken.”
Like the SEC, the big 12 set a minimum limit of 53 players needed to compete in a game this season. The big 12 also allowed a team to cancel or postpone a game if it had less than 7 attackers, 4 attackers and 1 defender.
The TCU did not specify which limit triggered the cancellation of the bowling game.
Arkansas players were due to leave the Fred W. Smith Center for Northwest Arkansas National Airport at 12:30 pm Tuesday, but the buses were stopped for nearly an hour before leaving without anyone on board. The game was canceled shortly after.
“We are very disappointed to not have the opportunity to compete again as a team,” said Arkansas coach Sam Pittman in a statement. “We were excited and wanted to play TCU in the Texas Bowl, but we certainly understood the problems with the TCU Program. We had no positive results from yesterday and we were ready to go to Houston this afternoon with a healthy team.
“Our team and our student-athletes have sacrificed a lot in the last few months, including during the holidays, so this is a difficult way to end our season. I am very proud of our team for fighting and dealing with adversity. Year.”
The Razorbacks are the fourth SEC team unable to play the bowl for which they were selected this year, joining South Carolina (Gasparilla Bowl), Missouri (Music City Bowl) and Tennessee (Liberty Bowl). All three teams gave up on their bowling games because of covid-19 numbers on their own team, not on the opponent.
The Razorbacks were set to play their first bowl game since 2016, when they lost to Virginia Tech at the Belk Bowl. Arkansas would play the Texas Bowl a second time and a Houston-based bowl game for the third time.
It is the second time this year that the TCU has to cancel a game because of the covid-19 numbers. The Horned Frogs’ season opener against the SMU was canceled in September.
TCU ended the season with a 6-4 record, including a 5-4 record against 12 major teams. The Horned Frogs have won three consecutive games and five in the last six games.
Arkansas had games postponed because of the virus during the regular season, but Razorbacks were able to reschedule those games and complete their 10-game schedule.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the 12 large minimum roster numbers were based on available stock market players. Got corrected.