Conference USA school announces cancellation of fall sports season

WKU defensive back Dionté Ruffin (26) breaks up a pass intended for ODU’s Cornell Hendrick Jr. (19) at S.B. Ballard Stadium on October 5, 2019 in Norfolk, Va. WKU won 20-3

Leo Bertucci

Old Dominion University, which is in the same athletic conference as WKU, announced in a statement on Monday that they are cancelling their upcoming fall sports season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The WKU football team was scheduled to play ODU’s squad for the Homecoming game on Oct. 31. WKU Athletics spokesman Zach Greenwell said in an email that WKU does not have an update about the status of the game at this time, but WKU and Conference USA will provide updates as soon as they are available.

According to ODU’s statement, the Monarchs are the 14th school in the Football Bowl Subdivision to announce the cancellation of its football season. The Mid-American Conference, which includes 12 schools, announced the cancellation of its football season on Saturday and the University of Connecticut football team opted out of its football season on Aug. 5.

According to a report, the Big Ten and Pac-12 will cancel their football seasons this week.

The Conference USA Board of Directors, which WKU President Timothy Caboni is a member of, announced in a statement on Friday that they have approved the scheduling format for the upcoming football season.

Under the new football schedule, participating Conference USA schools are scheduled to play eight games against other C-USA schools. The participating teams will be allowed to play up to four non-conference games this season.