UW Huskies will not pursue a bowl bid due to COVID-19 issues
Head coach Jimmy Lake said Washington starts every season with two goals — win the Pac-12 championship and win a bowl game.
The Huskies lost their chance at winning the conference title when they had to bow out of the game against USC due to COVID-19. Now, they won’t have an opportunity to achieve the second goal, either. The program announced on Friday that it won’t be pursuing a bowl bid due to medical reasons.
UW had to cancel its regular season finale against Oregon and its appearance in the Pac-12 championship due to COVID-19 issues in the program. During a Zoom call with the media on Monday, Lake said the Huskies didn’t have any offensive linemen available due to a combination of positive tests and contact tracing. The whole team is currently isolated.
“I’m so proud of our guys for how hard they have worked to put us in a position to achieve (our) goals,” Lake said in a statement. “Unfortunately, due to the positive cases we have seen, specifically on our offensive line, we would have not been able to have a team ready to compete at a high level in a bowl game due to our return to play protocols. This is disappointing for everyone within our program and all of Husky Nation, but this is the right decision to make to protect the health and safety of our players, which is always our greatest priority.
‘’Our guys have given up so much this season, and I would like to thank them for how they have handled everything. I would also like to give special recognition to our seniors who poured so much into this program, we are so proud of them for everything they have accomplished on and off the field.”
Fellow Pac-12 programs Stanford, Washington State, UCLA and Utah have also removed their programs from bowl consideration.
Lake said on Monday that he wanted to play in a bowl game and that his players were excited about the possibility. But in order to get back on the practice field, the Huskies would have needed two consecutive days with no positive cases.
UW — which hasn’t practiced since Dec. 9 when it paused all team-related activities — likely wouldn’t be able to fully return to the practice field until the week of Dec. 26, Lake said then, and the Huskies likely would’ve needed “three to four days” to practice before a game.
UW associate athletic director for health and wellness Rob Scheidegger said UW saw its first positive COVID-19 cases leading up to the game against Utah on Nov. 28.
“I’m truly disappointed for our players, coaches and staff who dedicated themselves to this very challenging season and were looking forward to representing the University of Washington, all of Husky Nation and the Pac-12 Conference in a bowl game,” said UW athletic director Jen Cohen in a statement. “The last 10 days we have made every effort, including pausing all football-related activities and continued aggressive testing protocols, to be able to have our team ready to return to the field. However, with the number of positive cases, specifically at the offensive line position, we will not have a team ready for competition due to our comprehensive return to play medical protocols. Since the start of practices this fall, we committed to returning to play only when we were able to do so in a healthy manner, and unfortunately, we aren’t at that point at this time.
“I’m so grateful for Coach Lake’s leadership, and am proud of the young men in our football program for managing the adversity of this season with grit and class. Our decision also allows our players, who have given up so much this year, to go home and be reunited with their families during the holidays. We also understand this is incredibly difficult for our seniors who have made a remarkable impact on this campus and in our community during their time on Montlake. We would like to thank them for their contributions and leadership, and for being great Huskies.”
It’s the policy of the athletic department not to release positive COVID-19 cases specific to a single sport, but it reports testing results weekly. The last update was released on Wednesday. There were 25 active positive cases. UW has administered 6,360 tests with 79 total positive cases since athletes started returning to campus on June 15.
“As we shared earlier in the week, we have taken pro-active measures to contain the further spread of COVID-19 in our football program,” head football team physician Dr. Kim Harmon said in a statement. “After continuing our pause on all football-related activities, we are confident we have been able to do that this week. With that said, we have experienced a number of positive cases within a key position group.
“Due to our thorough return to play policy, we would have not been able to have a team that was ready to return to practice and safely prepare for and compete in a bowl game. Despite the aggressive protocols we created and implemented at the onset of the season, and have strictly adhered to throughout the year, we still found ourselves in this position due to the power of this virus.”
UW finished the season 3-1, winning the Pac-12 North by default after finishing with the highest winning percentage in the division. Four games is the shortest season for the Huskies since 1918 — a year that was disrupted by World War I and the Spanish Flu.
Two additional games — at Cal and Washington State — were canceled due to COVID-19 issues in opponents’ programs. The Huskies played a game against Utah to make up for the Apple Cup cancellation.
Lake was asked on Monday if the rushed, shortened season was worth it. Especially since USC and Oregon — the Ducks replaced UW in the Pac-12 championship game — will play on Friday night for a title the Huskies should have been competing for.
Despite it all, Lake said he didn’t have regrets.
“What I wouldn’t take back is any of those four games that we played and all of the preparation that we had,” Lake said. “Our exhilarating comeback win against Utah — I know our staff and our players will remember that for the rest of our lives. The execution we had in the first two games. All the young guys we were able to put in the game against the University of Arizona. And then even our Stanford (loss), we know we made a bunch of mistakes but we were still able to fight back and we were a possession away from going down and winning that football game.
“To also be able to say we’re the Pac-12 North champions and we were getting ready to represent the Pac-12 North. I’m sure nobody felt that we were going to be in this position at all to be able to represent the North and go down there with the potential of winning the Pac-12 championship trophy. This is what we do. We coach and our players play.”
This story was originally published December 18, 2020 at 2:20 PM.
