Saturday's football game between No. 8-ranked Cincinnati and Tulsa has been postponed because of positive COVID-19 cases at Cincinnati and quarantining of athletes at the school, the American Athletic Conference announced Thursday.
The game has been rescheduled for Saturday, Dec. 5 at Tulsa.
"We are disappointed we will be unable to play Tulsa Saturday," Cincinnati athletic director John Cunningham said in a statement. "We knew this season was going to require a lot of patience and flexibility and disruptions were likely to happen. The health and safety of student-athletes, coaches and staff is always our primary focus and we appreciated the outstanding work and continued dedicated of our medical staff throughout the pandemic."
Tulsa has played only two games this season because of coronavirus-related postponements and cancellations. The Golden Hurricane have yet to play at home and had designated the Cincinnati game as homecoming. Tulsa isn't scheduled to play a home game until Oct. 30 against East Carolina, after visiting USF on Oct. 23.
"I'm disappointed, first, for our football student-athletes and coaches, and obviously for our staff who has prepared so diligently, our campus and the City of Tulsa," Tulsa athletic director Rick Dickson said in a statement. "This TU Homecoming game was a great opportunity to showcase our football program, the community and the American Athletic Conference against the nation's No. 8 team. As the university, the conference and the NCAA have said throughout this pandemic, the health and safety of our student-athletes are at the forefront of all decisions."
Cincinnati is next scheduled to play Oct. 24 at No. 17 SMU.
The AAC also announced Thursday that the conference championship game will be played on either Dec. 12 or Dec. 19. A final decision on the date of that game will be made no later than Nov. 1, the conference said.
