FAYETTEVILLE - Arkansas’ first bowl game in some four years will not come to pass as the Mercari Texas Bowl, set to be played Thursday night between the Razorbacks and TCU has been cancelled. Officials say a COVID-19 outbreak within the Horned Frog program prompted the team to withdraw from the competition.
“We are very disappointed not to get the opportunity to compete again as a team. We were excited and wanted to go play TCU in the Texas Bowl, but we certainly understand the issues in the TCU program,” said Head Coach Sam Pittman. “We had no positive tests from yesterday and were ready to go to Houston this afternoon with a healthy team. Our team and our student-athletes have sacrificed a lot over the last several months, including over the holidays, so this is a tough way to end our season. I’m so proud of our team for fighting and handling themselves through adversity all year.”
The team was getting set to board buses and depart for Houston when they got the news that the bowl game would be cancelled just after 1:00 PM.
“We are disappointed that our student-athletes will not have an opportunity to compete against TCU in the Mercari Texas Bowl. In what has been one of the most unusual seasons in college football history, our student-athletes made incredible sacrifices and earned the opportunity to safely compete in 10 games during the 2020 football season,” Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek said. “That is a tremendous credit to them and the efforts of Coach Sam Pittman, his staff, our medical team and the leadership of Commissioner Greg Sankey and the Southeastern Conference. We look forward to taking the field again for the 2021 season.”
This was to be the second appearance for Arkansas in the Texas Bowl this decade. Under former head coach Bret Bielema, the Hogs handled Texas in a 31-7 decision in 2014.