Houston-SMU football game postponed for 2nd time this season

BySam Khan Jr. ESPN logo
Thursday, December 3, 2020
UH postpones Tulsa game over COVID-19 for 2nd week in a row
The Cougars were slated to face SMU two weeks ago. But instead, they will miss out on a game for the third straight weekend.

Houston's upcoming game with SMU has been postponed for a second time because of COVID-19 issues, sources told ESPN on Wednesday.

The game, which was originally to be played on Nov. 21, was postponed to Dec. 5 when COVID-19 issues within Houston's program caused the game to be delayed. This time, it's COVID-19 issues within SMU's program that are preventing the game from being played.

It's unclear at this point whether the game can be made up.

Houston has a game scheduled with Memphis on Dec. 12 (which was originally postponed from Sept. 18) and is tentatively set to play Tulsa on Dec. 19, only if Tulsa is not a participant in the American Athletic Conference championship game. Should Tulsa play in the league title game, it would be possible for Houston and SMU to meet on Dec. 19.

SEE ALSO: UH postpones football game over COVID-19 for 2nd week in a row

This is the third consecutive Houston game to be postponed or canceled because of COVID-19 issues. The Cougars last played on Nov. 14. This is the eighth time that Houston has had a game impacted by COVID-19; the Cougars lost their entire September slate of opponents because of virus-related issues.

The video above is from a September 2020 report highlighting the postponed start of the Cougars' season.

Before the Houston postponements, SMU had only one COVID-19 cancellation this season, its Sept. 12 nonconference game against rival TCU. This is the first time the Mustangs have had to cancel a game because of virus-related issues in their program.

ESPN's Dave Wilson contributed to this report.

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