Multiple college football bowl games canceled due to COVID-19

The day after Christmas hasn’t been too kind to a few teams preparing for upcoming bowl games. Already on Sunday, two different postseason outings have been canceled due to COVID-19 issues within one of the programs.

Both the Fenway Bowl (Virginia vs. SMU) and Military Bowl (East Carolina vs. Boston College) were reportedly canceled on Sunday morning. The inaugural Fenway Bowl was expected to be played on Dec. 29 up in Boston, but COVID-19 issues within the Virginia program forced the cancelation. As for the Military Bowl, which was scheduled for Dec. 27 in Annapolis, MD, COVID-19 problems on the Boston College side forced the cancelation.

Fenway Bowl between Virginia & SMU has been canceled because of COVID issues at Virginia, sources told @ActionNetworkHQ. It’s 2nd bowl cancellation after 18 bowls were canceled last year

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) December 26, 2021

Multiple sources confirm the Military Bowl game between ECU and Boston College has been canceled due to COVID-19 issues.

— Stephen Igoe (@StephenIgoe) December 26, 2021

These two aren’t the first bowl games of the 2021-22 postseason to meet a similar fate, either. The Hawai’i Bowl between Hawai’i and Memphis was canceled on Thursday due to COVID-19 issues. The upcoming Gator Bowl has already had to replace Texas A&M with Rutgers as the opponent for Wake Forest due to COVID-19 issues within the Aggie program.

Considering 18 bowl games were canceled a year ago due to COVID-19, three doesn’t seem as dramatic. But with how quickly the Omicron variant appears to be spreading, it’s anyone’s guess as to which program will get infected next. Not counting the College Football Playoff games, there are still 23 bowl games left to be played.

For the Big Blue Nation’s sake, let’s just hope we can make it to Jan. 1 without any hiccups. Kentucky is set to face Iowa in the Vrbo Citrus Bowl on New Year’s Day down in Orlando.