Orlando bowl festivities go on, though COVID-19 cancels games in other states
Because of COVID-19 three college football bowls canceled their games in recent days, but the two bowl games scheduled in Orlando are moving ahead, with some teams already in town, two set to arrive Sunday and festivities planned all week long.
“Practice under the Florida sun,” tweeted the Iowa State University football team on Sunday after arriving in Orlando on Christmas day.
Iowa State is to play Clemson University in the Cheez-It Bowl on Wednesday at Camping World Stadium.
The Clemson team arrived in Orlando on Thursday, visited Universal Orlando on Friday and has been practicing and preparing for the game since then, with holiday festivities thrown in, too, according to the team’s Twitter feed.
“We have been proceeding with our bowl schedule as planned,” said Ross Taylor, a team spokesperson, in an email.
The Orlando stadium also is to host the VRBO Citrus Bowl on Saturday, a match-up between the University of Kentucky and Iowa University.
“@CitrusBowl bound,” tweeted the Kentucky team along with photos of players boarding a plan Sunday.
“The Sunshine State,” tweeted Hawkeye Football, with photos of their players disembarking from a plane Sunday afternoon.
For both bowls, the planned festivities include a pep rally at Pointe Orlando and pregame tailgate parties at the stadium.
The Cheez-It Bowl will also host a “parade of bands” in Winter Park on Wednesday at 11 a.m. with the Clemson and Iowa State bands marching down Park Avenue.
Planned bowl games in Hawaii, Maryland and Massachusetts have been canceled, however.
The Fenway Bowl and Military Bowl were both canceled due to the pandemic on Sunday because of coronavirus outbreaks at the University of Virginia and Boston College, the Associated Press reported.
The game scheduled for Wednesday at Fenway Park in Boston was to pit the Cavaliers against Southern Methodist University.
The Military Bowl scheduled for Monday in Annapolis, Maryland, was to be a contest between Boston and East Carolina University but was called off because of positive cases on the Boston team, the AP said.
“This is not the way we wanted to see this season come to an end,” Boston coach Jeff Hafley said, according to the AP. “We just do not have enough players to safely play a game.”
The Hawaii Bowl was canceled earlier after Hawaii withdrew from its game against Memphis on the eve of Thursday’s contest because of COVID-19, season-ending injuries and transfers, ESPN reported.
And the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville will now feature Rutgers University playing Wake Forest University, the AP said. Texas A&M University pulled out of the
upcoming New Year’s Eve contest because of COVID-19 and injury issues, ESPN
reported.