More bowl games off due to COVID

The Fenway Bowl and Military Bowl were both canceled Sunday due to the pandemic as coronavirus outbreaks at Virginia and Boston College forced them to call off their postseason plans.

The game scheduled for Wednesday at Fenway Park was to pit the Cavaliers against SMU. The Military Bowl scheduled for Monday at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland, between BC and East Carolina was canceled because of positive COVID-19 tests at BC.

“This is not the way we wanted to see this season come to an end,” Eagles coach Jeff Hafley said. “We just do not have enough players to safely play a game. My heart goes out to our seniors who will not have one final opportunity to wear a BC jersey and I can’t thank them enough for all the contributions they made to our program.”

The Fenway Bowl was supposed to bring a college football postseason game to the century-old home of baseball’s Red Sox, but those plans have been stymied twice by the pandemic. It was to be the last game for Virginia coach Bronco Mendenhall, who announced his resignation after the Cavaliers concluded a 6-6 regular season.

But leading up to the team’s planned departure on Christmas Day, players began showing symptoms of COVID and tested positive. The full team was tested in the morning, and more positive results came back Sunday.

“Playing this game was something our team very much looked forward to and it is unfortunate Coach Mendenhall will not have one last opportunity to coach this group,” Virginia AD Carla Williams said. “We appreciate all of the hard work by our team and coaching staff. They earned this bowl invitation, and it is unfortunate they will not be able to compete in the game to complete the season.”

It’s the second year in a row that the pandemic has spoiled bowl bids for Boston College and SMU.

The BC players voted not to go to a postseason game last year because of the emotional toll the pandemic season had taken. This year’s team went 6-6 (2-6 ACC) to gain bowl eligibility and had already traveled to the Washington, D.C., area for Monday’s game.

But AD Pat Kraft said more than 40 players were unavailable due to COVID, injuries, opt-outs and transfers.

“We just do not have enough players to field a team,” he said. “We are disappointed not to be able to finish the season together as a team, but the health and safety of our program is our highest priority.”

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.

And Rutgers will replace Texas A&M in the Gator Bowl against Wake Forest on New Year’s Eve after the Aggies pulled out because of a lack of available players.

Tide arrive without two assistants: Top-ranked Alabama arrived Sunday in North Texas without offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien or offensive line coach Doug Marrone, but coach Nick Saban expected both assistants to make it for the playoff semifinal game at the Cotton Bowl. He said there were no known COVID-19 issues among players.

The Crimson Tide said Wednesday that O’Brien and Marrone had tested positive for the coronavirus and were isolating with mild symptoms.

Saban said Sunday that both coaches were doing well back in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and would participate in meetings and practice via Zoom until they could join the team before Friday’s game against No. 4 Cincinnati (13-0).

“They will do all their work and coaching virtually with players, very similarly to the way I did it when I tested positive before the Auburn game a year ago,” Saban said. “They’ll be here for the game . ... No one is, you know, really that bad sick that they can’t function and do things that they need to do with our players.”

Saban said Alabama’s entire team is vaccinated and that more than 90% of the players also have had booster shots. The coach said players are wearing masks and social distancing in meetings.

“We have encouraged them to use the same practices that we had to use a year ago, whether it’s wearing a mask in meetings, wearing a mask when you’re not in the building, social distancing when we’re in meetings,” Saban said. “So, if there were some new protocols that would help us be safer, we would certainly implement them. But I think we tried to implement all that we know that has worked in the past.”