OU/WVU postponed, hoops season opener too
It took until Game No. 9, but COVID-19 has hit Oklahoma and hit the athletic program in a major way. OU announced Wednesday afternoon its scheduled football game Saturday night at West Virginia has been postponed and is moving to Dec. 12.
Earlier in the day, the men’s basketball program announced its first two games will no longer happen. OU was expected to begin the season Wednesday night vs. UTSA and then play at Central Florida on Saturday afternoon.
The No. 11 Sooners (6-2 overall, 5-2 Big 12) have had games where they’ve missed players because of COVID-19 and contact tracing, but Wednesday’s announcement marks the first time the program has had to hit the pause button.
For Lon Kruger, he seemed to have already accepted the prospects of this happening when he addressed the media Monday.
“Absolutely, it’s possible to be canceled the day of the game,” Kruger said. “That’s just the way the year is going to be. Hopefully, that doesn’t happen. It might be us, might be our opponent. Anyone who tests positive on the day of the game, certainly the guy who tests positive would be out. Then any contact tracing that comes back to sidelining anyone else he had been in contact with over the minimum amount allowed.
“Again, the difficult part there is that each state is a little bit different. Each interpretation of the health department is a little different. The contact tracing is pretty subjective at this point. OU has done a pretty good job of erring on the side of safety and would imagine will continue to do that.”
OU football was ravaged by COVID and contact tracing to begin the season, but the Sooners had been faring pretty well until last weekend.
Head coach Lincoln Riley spoke on the topic before last week’s Bedlam win vs. Oklahoma State.
“We’ve done pretty good as a program. We have,” Riley said. “I need to knock on wood. Like I’ve said all year, you’re one test away from your perspective changing. But we’ve had a stretch here since the first three games that rocked us pretty good and since then, we’ve been able to steady the ship a little bit on the COVID side of it. That’s been a positive.
“It hasn’t – for us in the last several weeks, has not had a huge impact. We’re kind of living day to day. We’ve got to keep our guard up and keep doing the best we can.”
Then COVID did affect the Sooners in a big way in Bedlam, and reports started to surface Tuesday evening that it would have an even bigger impact at West Virginia.
Finally, sources began telling SoonerScoop.com on Wednesday morning that it appeared unlikely for the game to happen.
OU-WVU was scheduled for a 6:30 kick on ABC. Time and station designation for the rescheduled game is not known as of this time.
OU is back at home next weekend vs. Baylor, while WVU takes on Iowa State in another pivotal Big 12 matchup with championship implications on the line.