The Holiday Bowl has been canceled hours before Tuesday night’s kickoff.
The UCLA Bruins announced Tuesday afternoon that the team had to pull out of the bowl game that was scheduled to be played at 8 p.m. EST in San Diego, ESPN reported.
The team had only two interior defensive linemen as of Monday but had more COVID-19 positive tests on Tuesday, CBS Sports reported.
“We are extremely grateful to the Holiday Bowl, students, fans, sponsors and the people of San Diego for their support this week,” UCLA athletics director Martin Jarmon said, according to ESPN. “We are deeply disappointed for our young men in the football program that worked extremely hard for this opportunity. My heart goes out to them. The health and safety of our students will always be our North Star.”
NC State also said the team is “heartbroken to not be able to compete one more time this season.”
This was supposed to be the first face-off between the Bruins and Wolfpack since 1960, CBS Sports reported.
The late cancellation means no replacement team could take either team’s place, so the Bruins end the season 8-4 while the Wolfpack ends it 9-3, according to CBS Sports.
This is the fifth bowl game to be canceled due to COVID-19. The Arizona Bowl, Hawaii Bowl, Fenway Bowl and Military Bowl have all been canceled due to the pandemic and recent outbreaks, ESPN reported.
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