ACC Teams Keep Dropping Out with COVID…Can NC State Go?

These last two weeks have been long ones for WPN. We thought that other sports could hold us over until the Holiday Bowl.

But it hasn’t been pretty.

WBB got upset by Georgia, MBB upset everyone off the court and Wrestling got screwed by a no-pin call. Now Covid is wrecking teams from the NHL, to NFL, to college.

ACC can’t get on the field

The first domino was Texas A&M dipped out of their Gator Bowl matchup with Wake Forest. Rutgers (who is 5-7 and should be handled, you’re welcome WF) is filling in. Boston College and UVA both dropped out, and thus, their bowls were canceled. Miami is a no go in the Sun Bowl, but that Bowl committee is trying to find a backup plan in time.

All this to say, the ACC has a 11-game bowl losing streak, and mind as well make it 14 with the latest mess.

You can blame the Omicron variant being so easily spreadable. You can blame the ACC and NCAA for sitting back for the last 18-months, not doing a damn thing about COVID protocols. There is probably other avenues for anger, in general, but we’ll leave those alone for now.

UCLA struggles of late

So far – and cannot emphasize enough how badly of a non-jinx this is meant to be – UCLA has been the one losing players.

Qwuantrezz Knight is by a mile their biggest.

The Bruins’ DB is team leader in tackles and tackles for loss. Add in Otito Ogbonnia, who previously declared for the NFL draft and will skip the Holiday Bowl, UCLA is down 13.5 TFL players. There have been a handful of other players that will be inactive for UCLA because of COVID. While most are purely backups, having any positives cases at this point makes you worry about others. Guard Mafi, DL Manoa and running back Fernea are all out.

UCLA coach Chip Kelly said the team plans to test one more time Monday evening. Fingers crossed.

Huge Game for this State Program

We’ve talked about it before and will mention it again over the next 24-hours; This game for State football program is HUGE.

Kelly mention it’s UCLA’s Super Bowl…the same could be said for State.

The second double-digit win total in school history. An absolute momentum push for this program into next year, with a whole lotta players coming back. Further proof, State is ready to make the next step.

In the past, you could flip flop back and forth on the importance of any one Bowl. This year is important, without question.

Now it’s a matter of whether they can go or have a last minute, Omahaian exit.