Tuesday’s Holiday Bowl has been canceled due to UCLA’s COVID-19 outbreak. The Bruins were scheduled to face NC State at 8 p.m. ET.
UCLA announced the news Tuesday afternoon. Bruce Feldman of The Athletic was the first to report the latest bowl game to be taken off the schedule due to COVID-19.
According to Feldman, UCLA’s defensive line room “has been decimated by Covid issues,” leading to today’s decision. “The Bruins were down to two interior D-Linemen yesterday for this game with a converted LB as the back-up nose guard, and were set to play but then had more covid issues today,” he added.
The news comes as the Wolfpack (9–3) sought just the second 10-win season in program history.
In 2002, Chuck Amato led the program to an 11–3 record, capped by a Gator Bowl win against Notre Dame. The program has won nine games another 10 times, including in '17 and '18 under current coach Dave Doeren.
It is unclear if NC State will make itself available for another bowl game in the event that other teams have to drop out. The Holiday Bowl hasn’t officially announced the cancellation of the game at this time.
So far, the Hawai'i Bowl (Hawai'i vs. Memphis), Military Bowl (Boston College vs. ECU), Fenway Bowl (Virginia vs. SMU) and Arizona Bowl (Boise State vs. Central Michigan) have been canceled due to outbreaks within at least one team involved. CMU is making the trip from Tucson to El Paso, Texas, to face Washington State in the Sun Bowl, after Miami had to drop out of that game.
