UTEP vs. North Texas Gets Postponed Due to Citywide COVID Surge

Citing the surging cases in El Paso, North Texas elected to postpone their matchup on Saturday against UTEP. Both teams will try to reschedule game, per UNT's athletic department.

UTEP has not reported a positive case of COVID-19 internally all season long.

"We are disappointed that North Texas has chosen not to come to El Paso for the football game this weekend,' UTEP President Heather Wilson said in a statement Tuesday night. "We have a safe place to play and no players who are sick or in isolation, and North Texas has not indicated that any of their players are ill. We made the decision earlier today not to allow fans in the stadium. We are proud of the diligence that our student-athletes, coaches and staff have shown to put us in a position to play every week. We look forward to further discussions with Conference USA and North Texas on whether or when this game will be rescheduled.”

Conference USA will help both teams reschedule the game, per North Texas' athletic department.

"We are disappointed to have our first postponement of a Conference USA game, but the health and safety of our student-athletes, staff and coaches is our number one priority," said UNT President Neal Smatresk in a release. "We send our best wishes to the entire El Paso community as they face the challenge of dealing with the latest outbreak."

The city's recent spike in COVID-19 cases has put a stoppage to many high school sporting events, per County Judge Ricardo Samaniego's request. El Paso reported 1,390 new COVID-19 cases and currently has 13,296 active cases.

Earlier on Tuesday, UTEP announced they would play their game against North Texas without fans due to the rising cases locally.

C-USA previously pushed back the league title game to the week of Dec. 18  to allow for two open weeks (Dec. 5 & Dec. 12) for possible makeup games. The Miners (3-3, 0-2 C-USA) had one other game postponed earlier this season against Southern Miss, originally scheduled for Oct. 17.

The Miners haven't played a home game since Sept. 19 (17-13, Abilene Christian). Next week (vs. Florida International) will be UTEP's first home game in seven weeks. FIU announced on Tuesday that it is postponing Friday's matchup against Marshall. If they aren't ready to go by Nov. 7 in El Paso. If that game is also postponed, UTEP goes on the road to face UTSA on Nov. 14 for their fourth consecutive road game.