Oregon Replaces Washington in Pac-12 Championship Game Due to Huskies' COVID-19 Issues

Oregon will replace Washington in the Pac-12 championship game this weekend due to the Huskies' lingering COVID-19 issues.

The Ducks will represent the North Division and face South Division champion USC at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Dec. 18. 

"This decision was made under the Pac-12's football game cancellation policy and Football Championship Game policy due to Washington neither having the minimum 53 scholarship student athletes available for the game nor the minimum number of scholarship student athletes at a position group, in each case as a result of a number of positive football student athlete COVID-19 cases and resulting isolation of additional football student athletes under contact tracing protocols," the league said in a statement.

Under Pac-12 rules, the North Division team with the next best record will play USC (5–0). Washington (3–1) finished just ahead of Oregon (3–2) in the division standings after having multiple games canceled this season amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Last weekend's rivalry game between the Huskies and Ducks was among the canceled games due to positive COVID-19 cases and subsequent contact tracing within Washington's program.

Oregon was initially scheduled to play Colorado on Saturday, Dec. 19 in the same Los Angeles venue in case Washington or USC were forced to withdraw from the title game on short notice. 

Last Wednesday, Washington reported 11 positive COVID-19 cases within its athletic department—six more than the previous week. According to The Seattle Times, not all active cases could be traced to the football program. Under university policy, the school does not specify how many cases are tied to which teams.