Rice is in a difficult situation as the football program has been forced to postpone practice and there is growing worry that another game postponement or cancellation is on the horizon.

The program announced that the Owls, “would have needed to begin their preseason practice schedule this weekend in advance of opening the season in early October. However, current conditions related to the infection rate in Houston and the need for highly reliable and very rapid testing results in the competitive athletics context forced a delay in a decision to move forward.”

Rice canceled games against LSU and Lamar, and is now scheduled to play on Oct. 3 at Marshall.

School leaders have said that they will make decisions based on safety.

“Our top priority is the safety of our community,” said Rice Athletics Director Joe Karlgaard. “Rice has safely welcomed back a majority of its student body and will continue to prioritize an on-campus college experience. The very low rates of infection among our campus community are the result of a communal effort and one that requires continued vigilance and dedication. At the same time, we will continue to explore options to allow a football season to happen in 2020.”

Added coach Mike Bloomgren said “As much as our team wants to get on the field and start their season, we all understand the larger issues involved. Mitigating the virus on our campus has been and will remain priority one, but there is also a commitment to trying to create a consistent scenario for football to be played this fall.”