Image taken from FIU football athletics site
Richard Gibson / Staff Writer
FIU’s matchup against the Marshall Thundering Herd on Friday, October 30th has been postponed to an unknown date due to a combination of COVID-19 cases within the team, as well as injuries.
“The action follows Conference USA COVID-19 guidelines, which require a threshold for the game to be played safely. The shortage is due to quarantining of COVID-19 positive tests and contact tracing, as well as injuries,” said a statement made by FIU Athletics.
In a post-game press conference after FIU’s loss to Jacksonville State on last week, head coach Butch Davis said “With the coronavirus and injuries, I think we’re down 24 players. We probably lost more tonight.”
This isn’t the first game to be cancelled. FIU’s matchup with the Charlotte 49ers was postponed due to an increase of cases within the team. Like the Marshall game, it’s unknown when that game will be made up.
Three other games were cancelled this semester due to COVID-19. FIU’s matchup against UCF was cancelled due to FIU suspending all intercollegiate activities through September 16th. The Panther’s matchups with UMass and Old Dominion were cancelled due to both teams cancelling their seasons.
The Conference-USA Championship game is on December 18th, and FIU’s final regular season game against Louisiana Tech is on Nov. 28. It’s likely that both the Charlotte and Marshall games will be made up between those dates.
Now, FIU’s next game is scheduled to be against the UTEP Miners in El Paso, Texas, on Saturday, Nov. 7 at 4 p.m. FIU will then head back home to take on the FAU Owls on Nov. 13.
