SAN DIEGO — Just hours before kickoff, the SDCCU Holiday Bowl between UCLA and North Carolina State at Petco Park was abruptly canceled Tuesday due to COVID-19 issues within the Bruins football program.
“We are extremely grateful to the Holiday Bowl, students, fans, sponsors and the people of San Diego for their support this week,” UCLA Athletic Director Martin Jarmond said in a statement. “We are deeply disappointed for our young men in the football program that worked extremely hard for this opportunity. My heart goes out to them. The health and safety of our students will always be our North Star.”
The university said only that the team was withdrawing “due to COVID- 19 protocols within the Bruins’ program.” Details of the COVID issues were not released.
The Bruins had been set to take on North Carolina State in a game kicking off at 5 p.m.
The Holiday Bowl is the fifth bowl game to be canceled due to COVID-19 issues, following the Arizona, Fenway, Military and Hawaii bowls. Two others — the Gator and Sun bowls — had to change their matchups because of the coronavirus.
Mark Neville, Holiday Bowl CEO released a statement to CBS 8 stating “It is with greatest concern for the health and safety of all involved with the SDCCU Holiday Bowl that we are informing you that tonight’s game is canceled. We were notified shortly after noon that the UCLA team would be unable to participate due to an outbreak of COVID.”
The announcement came around 12:30 p.m., just hours ahead of the 5 p.m. kickoff of the 43rd annual Holiday Bowl. The game was going to be the first football game ever played at Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres.
It was scheduled to be UCLA’s second appearance in the Holiday Bowl. The Bruins lost to Baylor, 49-26, in the 2012 game.
UCLA (8-4) was heading into the game on a three-game winning streak. This season was the first time since 2015 the Bruins have won at least eight games in a season. The last time they won more than eight games was 2014.
It was also going to be UCLA’s first bowl appearance since 2017 when it lost to Kansas State, 35-17, in the Cactus Bowl. UCLA’s bowl record is 16-19- 1, including losses in its last two bowl games.
North Carolina State (9-3) has won four of its last five games. The Wolfpack were 18th in most recent Associated Press poll, which was released Dec. 5, three spots higher than the previous week. UCLA is unranked.
North Carolina State’s appearance would have been its seventh bowl appearance in eight seasons. It has a 17-15-1 bowl record, including losses in its last two bowl games.
It would have been the third meeting between the teams. UCLA won 21-12 in 1959 and 7-0 in 1960. The 1960 game was the last time the Wolfpack played in California before the Holiday Bowl.
WATCH RELATED: San Diego’s Holiday Bowl in 1986 and 1991