Oklahoma State’s season opener postponed due to COVID-19

Oklahoma State postponed their season opener against Tulsa one week because of COVID-19.

The opening week of Big 12 games suffered another blow on Monday night with the postponement of Oklahoma State’s season opener against Tulsa.

It was Tulsa who officially announced the postponement of the game, which was originally scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 12.

While they were able to start training camp back in August, the Golden Hurricane had to take nine days off from practicing because of multiple positive COVID-19 tests.

“Without time to properly prepare physically we would be putting our student-athletes at a greater risk of injury,” Tulsa athletic director Dr. Derrick Gragg said.

Oklahoma State and Tulsa hope to play on Sept. 19 instead.

According to Tulsa, they only managed seven practices in 17 days. Delaying the game by a week will give them more time to catch up on their physical readiness.

However, you have to wonder if even that’s enough time. Over the next 12 days, they could hope to practice another 10 times. That would give them just 17 practices in preparation for the 2020 season. Most schools complete 25 practices across training camp before the season begins.

Oklahoma State hasn’t been immune from complications due to COVID-19 either. They reported seven active cases on the football team on Monday. That’s up from just two cases from the reporting period at the end of August.

While no conference outings have been impacted, the Oklahoma State-Tulsa delay is not the first game in the Big 12 that will not go forward this weekend.

On Sunday, TCU and SMU had to postpone their Friday night game because a group of TCU players and staffers tested positive for the coronavirus. No new date has been set for that game. The Horned Frogs have an open date on Sept. 19, but SMU is already slated to play North Texas that Saturday.