Bowden, 90, tests positive for virus; has no symptoms

Former Florida State coach Bobby Bowden has tested positive for the coronavirus and was home Monday monitoring his symptoms.

Family friend and Bowden’s former publicist Kim Shiff said the 90-year-old Hall of Fame coach had been hospitalized for about two weeks, being treated for an infection after having a procedure to remove a skin cancer from his leg.

Bowden returned home late last week and was informed by his doctor he had tested positive for the virus on Saturday, he told the Tallahassee Democrat on Monday.

Bowden said he had yet to experience symptoms of COVID-19.

“I don’t feel bad, yet,” Bowden told the newspaper. “I guess I can loaf around the rest of the week. I just have to keep an eye out for [symptoms].”

Bowden coached Florida State for 34 years and is second on the career victories list in major college football with 357, behind only the late Joe Paterno of Penn State. He won national championships in 1993 and 1999.

“We are thinking about coach,” Florida State coach Mike Norvell told reporters.

“We will be praying for a speedy recovery.”

Norvell tested positive for COVID-19 last month and was forced to miss Florida State’s game against Miami.

Bowden said he is isolating at his home in Tallahassee and his wife, Ann, along with his daughter and grandson, all of whom are being tested for the virus.

ELSEWHERE

UCF: The Knights’ 34-26 loss to Tulsa ended a 21-game home win streak and was their first defeat in Orlando in 46 months — since they fell to Tulsa on Nov. 19, 2016. It was the Golden Hurricane’s fourth consecutive win in the series. It was an off night for UCF quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who went 1 of 8 during a stretch that included his second interception of the season on a ball batted up at the line of scrimmage and picked off by Tulsa linebacker

Zaven Collins. “I put this one on me,” Gabriel said after dropping to 11-4 as a starter. “I’ve got to be better at QB play and we have to execute at a higher level. It shows when you don’t do that what happens.”

Florida: The No. 4 Gators, who which beat South Carolina 38-24, have scored at least 35 points in consecutive games against SEC opponents for only the second time since 2009. The Gators also did it in 2012. Florida is averaging 41.3 points over its last four games.

Virginia Tech: Khalil Herbert moved to the top of the national rushing chart with his stellar performance against Duke. The 5-9, 212-pound Herbert carried 20 times for

208 yards and two touchdowns in the 38-31 win and entered this week averaging 156 per game. Herbert, playing his final season as a graduate transfer, also had 150 kick return yards against Duke.

His 358 all-purpose yards were a Virginia Tech record and the highest total in the nation this season.

Oklahoma: The struggling Sooners go into the Red River Rivalry game against No. 22 Texas in danger of losing a third consecutive game for the first time since John Blake’s 1998 team dropped five in a row. The Sooners, beaten 37-30 at Iowa State, have lost backto-back games for the first time since 1999 and lost in Ames for the first time since 1960. This marks the first year since 1931 that Oklahoma has lost to Kansas State and Iowa State in the same season.

SMU: Reggie Roberson Jr. became the first SMU receiver to total more than 200 yards receiving in a game, catching five passes for 243 in a 30-27 win over Memphis. The senior is among five receivers in the nation since 2015 to go over 200 yards on so few catches. Highlighting his day were touchdowns of 85 and 70 yards. Roberson was the main target of Shane Buechele, who passed for a career-high 474 yards and three TDs and had a career-high 501 yards of total offense. Roberson’s other 200-yard receiving game was last season, when he had 250 against Arkansas State.

Arkansas: Bumper Pool continues to be a tackle machine for the Razorbacks. The junior linebacker made a careerhigh 20 in a 21-14 win over Mississippi State, his third consecutive game with double-digit tackles. An aside: Pool was named James Morris Pool at birth. According to WholeHogSports.com, he legally changed his first name to Bumper when he turned 16 with his parents’ blessing.