Boise State Out of Arizona Bowl Due To COVID-19 Issues
Broncos unable to play in the Arizona Bowl
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COVID (likely) cancels Barstool Bowl
Boise State football will not be participating in the Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl due to COVID-19 issues within the program. The bowl game was to be played on New Year’s Eve and streaming on the sponsors website.
Boise State will not play in the Arizona Bowl due to to COVID-19 complications. That frees up Central Michigan to play in the Sun Bowl, a 316-mile drive east.
— Dennis Dodd (@dennisdoddcbs) December 27, 2021
The Broncos players did get to go home before the bowl game so that is a real possibility as to how an outbreak came about from the team. Plus, the new Omicron variant is more contagious and is still causing fully vaccinated people to test positive and spread to others, even with little to no symptoms.
Boise State’s bowl history has been complicated the past few years. There is this year’s game not being played, the team opting for no bowl game last year when the pandemic was raging fierce, and the year before when the First Responders Bowl game never finished due to severe weather in the Dallas area.
If our math is correct, today marks 1,473 days since Boise State last won a bowl game. https://t.co/ce6Svf8xzm
— Mountain West Wire (@MWCwire) December 27, 2021
As for what happens next?
The Barstool Bowl game undoubtedly be canceled (the jokes write themselves sometimes) and to say this was written without a grin would be false.
The Sun Bowl needs an opponent as the Miami Hurricanes were unable to travel and leave Washington State in El Paso and without an opponent.
Tuscon is not all that far from the Sun Bowl, so it would make too much sense for Central Michigan to take the four-hour or so drive to this new location.
Game on. CMU vs Wazzu, 10AM, Dec. 31 @ the Sun Bowl.
— Jeremy Carranco (@JACarranco_) December 27, 2021
Oh! There also is the massive payout difference by going to the Sun Bowl over the Arizona Bowl which pays out $2.3 million per team while the Arizona Bowl is under $500,000 per team, so the choice is obvious for the Chips to change bowl games.
Boise State has withdrawn from the Arizona Bowl, sources confirm to @SINow, as @stoolpresidente
announced.The MAC must now release Central Michigan from its bowl obligation if it is to play Washington State in the Sun Bowl, source say.
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) December 27, 2021
Also to consider is that finding two new opponents for each bowl game is highly unlikely so it makes too much sense for Washington State to play Central Michigan, and choosing the Sun Bowl is the right move.
