Arkansas State postpones football game due to COVID, days after playing Kansas State
The latest college football game to be postponed because of a coronavirus outbreak has to leave the Kansas State Wildcats feeling uneasy today.
Arkansas State announced Tuesday that its home opener against Central Arkansas will not be played as originally scheduled Saturday because the Red Wolves are unable to assemble a complete two-deep depth chart for the game.
K-State played Arkansas State over the weekend at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, with the Red Wolves winning 35-31. Both teams dealt with COVID-19 absences in that game, as Arkansas State was down nearly 10 starters and K-State was without approximately two dozen players. But both sides had enough active personnel to play.
Things have apparently gotten worse for Arkansas State since Saturday. Could a coronavirus outbreak on Arkansas State’s football team make it difficult for K-State to play its next game against Oklahoma on Sept. 26?
Earlier this week, K-State coach Chris Klieman said he expected to get several players back over the next two weeks. But he also said this season will be unpredictable when it comes to handling COVID.
“We haven’t had anybody come back from it yet, and mainly because it’s still been pretty new, as far as the guys that have gotten it once we started football,” Klieman said. “So I don’t know how long that’s going to be. Is that going to be getting guys back this week? Is it going to be getting some guys back in two or three weeks? I understand it, too. There’s a heart issue that we want to make sure a young man is perfectly healthy to go back out there and compete, and so moving forward, it is going to be a roller coaster.”
K-State is currently testing its football players for COVID three times a week, per Big 12 policy. Klieman did not provide any information on active COVID cases on K-State’s roster during his weekly news conference Tuesday.
Arkansas State said in a news release Tuesday that it planned to reschedule its game with Central Arkansas for Oct. 10 — not because too many players on its roster were unavailable, but rather an inability to field a safe number of players at a key position group.
Big 12 policy dictates that a team must have 53 healthy players, including one quarterback, seven offensive linemen and four interior defensive linemen to play this season.
“We are obviously disappointed for the student-athletes participating from both schools, as well as both coaching staffs and fan bases,” Arkansas State athletic director Terry Mohajir said. “We are excited that we’ve rescheduled this game to be played at Centennial Bank Stadium on Oct. 10. While no one wanted this outcome, the health and safety of our student-athletes will always come first.”