Advertisement

With season opener just over a week away, New Mexico suspends practices because of positive COVID-19 tests

New Mexico’s preparations for the 2020 season are on a temporary hold.

The school said Thursday that it had paused all football workouts and practices because of positive COVID-19 tests. According to the Albuquerque Journal, eight players and one coach have tested positive for the coronavirus.

The positive tests came on Wednesday and are the first positive tests for anyone involved with the New Mexico program since August.

New Mexico is a member of the Mountain West Conference and is set to start the 2020 season against Colorado State on Oct. 24. The Mountain West was one of the last conferences to announce that it was playing football in the fall of 2020, and teams in the conference are testing three times a week.

If New Mexico’s outbreak doesn’t get any bigger, the Lobos should be able to have enough players for that game against Colorado State. But that game may also be dependent on when UNM can get back to practice. The school said that the team will not practice on Friday as it continues to trace the origins of the outbreak.

The Pac-12 and the Mid-American Conferences are the only two conferences that are beginning their seasons after Oct. 24. The MAC will begin its season on Nov. 4 while the Pac-12 will start days later. The Big Ten season will start on the same day as the MWC season. Each of the other six college football conferences are already playing and four games scheduled for Saturday have been postponed because of teams’ positive tests.

A New Mexico Lobos helmet.
New Mexico opens the season on Oct. 24 vs. Colorado State. (Photo by Sam Wasson/Getty Images)

– – – – – – –

Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.

More from Yahoo Sports: