It was obvious when the Pac-12 decided to stage a six-game league football schedule in a tight six-week window, in the middle of the novel coronavirus pandemic, that there was little margin for error.

Despite the Pac-12’s extensive efforts to play the season, there were disruptions to the schedule before the first kickoff.

On the conference’s opening weekend, two league games, set for Saturday, were canceled due to COVID-19 — Arizona at Utah and Washington at Cal. 

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Considering the circumstances, the Utes’ scheduled game at UCLA next Friday could be in jeopardy. The Bruins play at Colorado in their season opener Saturday.

The Los Angeles Times reported that UCLA “was exploring all options with the Pac-12 in the event that Utah was unable to play the Bruins next week.”

Paul Kirk, Utah’s associate athletic director for strategic communications, said he had no new information beyond Saturday’s game not being played. 

The announcement about the cancellation of the Utes’ opener against Arizona came a little more than 24 hours before kickoff. The league explained that Utah did not have the minimum number of scholarship players available after positive cases and contract tracing protocols. The Utah-Arizona game was declared a no-contest when the Pac-12 approved Utah’s request to cancel the game. 

This probably shouldn’t have been a surprise. Utah health officials reported Friday another state record with 2,987 new COVID-19 cases, and 17 new deaths — the most confirmed in a single day during the pandemic. As of Friday, the average positive test rate was 19.7%.

“As difficult as this is, there is no question it is the right decision to make. Our student-athletes’ health and well-being is absolutely paramount and we will not put them at risk,” said Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham in a statement Friday. “Our team has worked extremely hard to get to this point, and we will continue to care for our students-athletes and follow all protocols very thoroughly as we prepare for next week’s game.”

If Utah can’t play UCLA, that leaves four games on the schedule. The Utes are scheduled to host USC (Nov. 21), travel to Arizona State (Nov. 28), entertain Oregon State (Dec. 5) and visit Colorado (Dec. 11). The Pac-12 Championship Game is set for Dec. 18.

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What does this mean for Utah’s 2020 campaign? The two-time defending Pac-12 South champions are eager to debut a new starting quarterback and revamping a defense that is replacing nine starters. 

Whittingham emphasized recently that his players have been constantly reminded about the importance of keeping themselves safe and being careful, especially when they’re not on campus. 

The league’s partnership with Quidel Corporation, a diagnostic company with rapid COVID-19 testing that can produce results in 15 minutes, provides schools capabilities intended to slow the spread of the virus. 

But as we’ve learned, with dozens of cancellations of games in college football and in the professional ranks in recent months, this virus is unpredictable and even the best intentions, and the best protocols, can’t guarantee limiting the spread. 

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