Air Force vs. Army football is off due to COVID

The likelihood of Air Force and Army playing each other in football this year is now slim.

Thursday afternoon, the Air Force Academy announced that this Saturday’s football game is postponed due to “upward trends of COVID-19 cases here at the Academy, the football program and in the surrounding community.”

While a news release from the Falcons’ athletic department says that the schools will work to reschedule the crucial matchup in the race for the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy, multiple reports suggest that the game won’t be played this year. Thus, it’ll be a year without the C.I.C. Trophy being awarded.

From now through Dec. 12, Army and Air Force do not share a common bye week. If the game is to be played, it would have to be the weekend of Dec. 19. But this is assuming that Air Force won’t qualify for the Mountain West championship game and it’ll mean the game is played after Army-Navy. It would be just one of many unprecedented things to occur in 2020.

Playing the game that weekend would also eliminate Army’s ability to have a bye week between playing Navy and its bowl game on Dec. 26.

“We are disappointed to postpone this game, but the health and safety of our cadets, staff and the community continues to be our No. 1 priority at the Academy,” Air Force Director of Athletics Nathan Pine said in a statement. “Due to the upward trends in our COVID numbers across the campus, we have paused all intercollegiate team activities.”

Air Force is 37-16 all-time against Army and won the game last year 17-13 in Colorado Springs.

While the Black Knights won’t play Air Force this weekend, they’re still trying to find a game, apparently.