Holiday Bowl canceled hours before kickoff, becoming fifth bowl scuttled by covid protocols [View all]

Around noon Eastern time Tuesday, the UCLA Bruins’ football Twitter account posted “it’s GAMEDAY! #GoBruins.”

Roughly four hours later, an update followed: UCLA was withdrawing from the Holiday Bowl, sponsored by San Diego County Credit Union, “due to COVID-19 protocols within the Bruins’ program.”

So, with no time to find a new opponent for No. 18 North Carolina State, Holiday Bowl organizers were forced to cancel the game just hours before kickoff at San Diego’s Petco Park, leaving ESPN with a vacant prime-time broadcast slot and leaving ticket holders stunned.

Such is the volatility bordering on chaos afflicting the college bowl season amid a nationwide surge of the highly contagious omicron variant, which is now the dominant form of covid in the United States.

The Holiday Bowl becomes the fifth bowl game to cancel because of covid complications.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ncaafb/holiday-bowl-canceled-hours-before-kickoff-becoming-fifth-bowl-scuttled-by-covid-protocols/ar-AASdGHn