Navy at USF football postponed due to COVID-19

For the third straight weekend, a Navy football game has been postponed due to COVID-19.

But this time, the circumstances are a bit different. The Mids’ home games against Tulsa and Memphis were scrapped due to positive cases within the Naval Academy. Navy seemed to be in the clear last Friday, when they resumed football activities after an 11-day hiatus.

Now, Navy’s road game this Saturday at USF has be postponed due to to “positive COVID-19 cases” within USF and “the ensuing contact tracing of student-athletes,” according to a statement from the American Athletic Conference.

As of Wednesday morning, the USF game was the last one remaining on Navy’s schedule until the Mids’ annual clash with Army on Dec. 12. However, word came down yesterday that the AAC is trying to reschedule Navy’s games vs. Memphis and Tulsa for Nov. 28 and Dec. 5.

From Bill Wagner at the Capital Gazette: “That tentative plan would require the Memphis and Tulsa games originally scheduled for those dates to be moved to the weekend of Dec. 12 and involves cooperation of other AAC schools... If all issues can be resolved, an announcement could come from the conference by the end of this week, multiple sources told The Capital.”

So, we’ll see?

Rescheduling the Memphis and Tulsa games for those dates would slice the Mids’ prep time for Army, but it would also give Navy two more chances at wins and — perhaps more importantly — allow the seniors to play two more games of college football at home.

To pull off the rescheduling plan, the Memphis-Tulane and Tulsa-Cincinnati games would have to be moved to Dec. 12.

Still, even if Navy’s games against Memphis and Tulsa get rescheduled, it seems like rescheduling the USF game is unlikely. There just isn’t anymore room in the schedule for a third game to be added.

Navy is 3-4 on the season and 3-2 in AAC play. The Mids haven’t taken the field since losing 51-37 to SMU in Dallas on Oct. 31.