UH football lines up against SMU in its 2019 matchup with the Mustangs. Houston’s 2020 game against 2020 was canceled Wednesday. | Katrina Martinez/The Cougar
UPDATE: The American Athletic Conference officially announced on Thursday that the game between the Houston football team and SMU has been canceled due to COVID-19 cases within the Mustangs’ program.
“I’m disappointed for both teams, who have worked to prepare for this weekend’s game,” said UH athletic director Chris Pezman in a release. “We wish those affected at SMU a quick recovery.”
In addition to the announcement of the cancellation, the AAC also said that the game will not be rescheduled. The contest had been moved once from its original Nov. 21 date to Saturday before getting axed again on Thursday.
UH (3-2 AAC) was still mathematically in contention for a spot in the AAC Championship game, which is scheduled to take place on Dec. 19, heading into the game against SMU.
The Cougars are currently two games behind second-seed Tulsa (5-0 AAC) and are scheduled to play Memphis (4-2 AAC) on Dec. 12.
UH also has a game against Tulsa tentatively set for Dec. 19, the same day as the AAC Championship game, but the conference has put a condition that the UH and Tulsa game will only kickoff if the Golden Hurricane are not in the championship contest.
The conference announced in a press release that it will consider a number of scheduling options in regard to the remainder of the 2020 schedule.
Original story: For the third consecutive week, UH football will not be in action on Saturday due to COVID-19 related issues within SMU’s program, according to multiple reports.
Houston was scheduled to travel to Dallas to take on SMU on Saturday night, but the Mustangs had COVID-19 issues with key offensive position groups.
According to several other news outlets, the game is not likely to be rescheduled as this marks the second time this season that the game between Houston and SMU will not take place as scheduled.
As of now, the Cougars have one remaining regular-season game scheduled, a Dec. 12 matchup against Memphis that was supposed to be played earlier in the season but was rescheduled due to a COVID-19 outbreak within the Tigers’ program.
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