BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — The Indiana-Purdue rivalry game has been canceled again.
Both schools had to pull out of last week’s regularly scheduled battle for the Old Oaken Bucket because of COVID-19 issues. The game was rescheduled as one of the Big Ten’s championship weekend bonus games, but the seventh-ranked Hoosiers and Boilermakers jointly announced that neither team will be able to play Friday.
It will be the first time in-state rivals have not met in a football season since the Spanish flu pandemic forced cancellations in 1918 and ’19.
In other virus-related developments in college football:
— The first bowl game scheduled to played this season has been canceled. The Frisco Bowl scheduled for Saturday was called off because SMU is having COVID-19 issues. The Mustangs were scheduled to play Texas-San Antonio in Frisco, Texas. UTSA will instead play in the First Responders Bowl in Fort Worth, Texas, on Dec. 26 against an appointment to be determined.
— An ongoing COVID-19 outbreak at Michigan has forced the Wolverines to cancel their football game at No. 18 Iowa on Saturday. This will be the third straight game canceled. The Wolverines didn’t play Dec. 5 at home against Maryland or last week at No. 3 Ohio State.
