Miami football is the latest bowl-season dropout as the Hurricanes are out of the Sun Bowl due to the program being COVID protocols.
As the program is about to transition into the Mario Cristobal era, Miami football was readying to face the Washington State Cougars in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl. At minimum, it was something that could potentially get Hurricanes fans excited about the future with young quarterback Tyler Van Dyke.
Unfortunately, that won’t be something that fans of the Canes or of college football will get to see.
With COVID taking its toll on the Miami program, the Hurricanes have been forced to drop out of the Sun Bowl, leaving Washington State and the bowl game itself looking for a potential replacement to play on New Year’s Eve.
Miami has to withdraw from Sun Bowl because of COVID issues, bowl sources told @ActionNetworkHQ. It’s unknown if Sun Bowl can find a replacement to play Washington State, which arrived in El Paso earlier today
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) December 27, 2021
Sun Bowl loses Miami football: Will Washington State play a replacement?
As of right now, the Sun Bowl (and Tony the Tiger) are working to try and not have the game canceled. However, what we do know is that Memphis, SMU and East Carolina — all three programs that lost their bowl games due to the opposing team’s COVID issues — will not be stepping in to play Wazzu.
Sun Bowl still seeking replacement as of Sunday night for Miami, source told @ActionNetworkHQ. However, it won’t be Memphis, SMU or East Carolina, the 3 teams impacted by canceled bowls. Each program said their seasons were done after their respective bowls were recently canceled
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) December 27, 2021
Considering that it was Rutgers, a 5-7 team that graded out well in advanced metrics, that earned the bid to play Wake Forest after Texas A&M dropped out of the Gator Bowl, we could be looking at another team of the same ilk that could step in and play the Cougars.
All we know is, finding someone to play and not losing the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl would be grrrr-eat!
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