Baylor's Season Opener Against Louisiana Tech Postponed

On Tuesday evening, Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports reported that Baylor’s season opener against Louisiana Tech scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 12 has been postponed. 

SicEm365 has confirmed Thamel’s report through unofficial sources.

According to Thamel, 38 Louisiana Tech players had tested positive after “Hurricane Laura eliminated power in 90-percent of the area for 7-10 days.”  The move forced “many players to move elsewhere and made social distancing difficult, which contributed to the spread.”

Prior to Hurricane Laura the Bulldogs had just three positive test in three weeks.

Baylor released the following quotes from Director of Athletics Mack Rhoades as well as Louisiana Tech Direcetor of Athletics Tommy McClelland on Tuesday evening. 

“We are incredibly disappointed to announce the postponement of our upcoming football game against Louisiana Tech,” said Baylor Director of Athletics Mack B. Rhoades. “However, in the interest of the health and wellness of our student-athletes, coaches, and staff, we are confident in this unfortunate but necessary course of action. To the Baylor and Louisiana Tech student-athletes and communities, we share in your disappointment and look ahead to resuming play.”

“We are obviously very disappointed that we will not be able to open the season this weekend at Baylor,” said Louisiana Tech Director of Athletics Tommy McClelland. “However, with the number of recent positive COVID19 results and contact tracing, it is simply not possible. We would be putting our student-athletes at risk.

“It is obvious that the impact of Hurricane Laura in our community a few weeks ago really sparked our significant increase in numbers. With 95 percent of our city losing power for days – even up to a week in many areas – our student-athletes were forced to find places to stay and some even had family from south Louisiana that came northward to stay with them. So many things that we were able to control for the month of August became out of our control, and I think the numbers prove that it took its toll.

“The days leading up to this outbreak, we had a stretch of three weeks with only one positive case. So the protocols we had in place were working prior to Hurricane Laura.”

As additional information is released, adjusted game dates and times will be communicated to original ticket holders via email to the email address on file.