Rice football’s upcoming Thanksgiving weekend game against UTEP has been canceled due to COVID-19 complications at UTEP.
For the third time in four weeks, Rice has had their game postponed. Due to COVID-19 complications at UTEP, the Owls and Miners will not play today as previously scheduled.
Rice was able to play both of their scheduled October games without a hiccup. The Owls opened at home against Middle Tennessee on Oct. 24 and went on the road to play Southern Miss on Oct. 31. Since then, they’ve lost the opportunities to play UTSA on Nov. 7, Louisiana Tech on Nov. 14 and now UTEP on Nov. 28. The UTSA game was postponed on Friday. The Louisiana Tech game was postponed on Thursday.
Conference USA added games against Marshall (Dec. 5) and UAB (Dec. 12) prior to the Owls’ first postponement. Given the three missed games against opponents from C-USA West, there’s still a decent chance the Marshall game is canceled in favor of a divisional contest, but nothing can be certain in 2020 at this point. Marshall most recently lost a game against East division foe Charlotte that has yet to be made up.
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Western Kentucky remains the only C-USA school to avoid a postponed game because of COVID-19. A full list of C-USA games impacted by postponements since the season kicked off in late August is available on our Conference USA COVID-19 Postponement Tracker.
The next game on the schedule for Rice football is the Marshall game on Dec. 5. Rice hasn’t played at home since Oct. 24, more than a month ago. At this rate, playing any football, anywhere, would be welcomed. With the calendar creeping into December, there’s not much time left to play this season.