Covid-19 cases within Texas Southern’s football program have led to the cancellation of Saturday’s regular season finale at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.
UAPB (4-0 overall and 4-0 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference) had already clinched a spot in the May 1 SWAC championship game, but the cancellation helped force the SWAC to move the game to a neutral site.
Both UAPB and Alabama A&M (4-0, 3-0 SWAC) are unbeaten, so the original plan to hold the championship game at either UAPB or Alabama A&M depended in part on the outcome of the UAPB-Texas Southern game. Had UAPB played against Texas Southern and won, and if Alabama A&M had lost its final regular season game against Mississippi Valley State, UAPB was to have hosted the championship game.
However, SWAC media relations official Andrew Roberts said earlier this week, before Wednesday's decision to move the game to a neutral site, that the Football Championship Subdivision Coaches Poll would be used to determine whether UAPB or A&M hosts the game. According to the poll released Tuesday, A&M is 22nd, and UAPB is 25th.
Before Wednesday’s announcement, Gamble seemed to take the cancellation of the last home game for this spring in stride.
“That’s something we can’t control,” he said. “It’s no reason to be mad about it or upset about it. For us, it’s making sure we spent today erasing everything we had prepared for in Texas Southern, what we thought was going to be this upcoming game. This is the normal, nowadays. Change is certain. I always say that. We’re always ready for the ready. We’re just now looking forward to the next one, and we’re happy we have a next one coming up.”
Gamble said he took a look at A&M on Tuesday, noting he had finished preparations on Texas Southern. He saw a replay of A&M’s 38-14 win over Alabama State on television.
“It was just on my mind, and when I came home from practice, I took a peek,” Gamble said. “I told the staff this morning, ‘I will admit, I took a peek.’ I don’t know if anyone else will, but our focus was only supposed to be on Texas Southern. We had spent Sunday evening, Monday morning and Tuesday morning in preparation for Texas Southern, so I don’t think it’s wrong for me to take a peek at our upcoming opponent. I’ve done that before, just to really gauge and get a feel for them, but our mind was on Texas Southern.”
This story has been updated. It was originally published at 6:44 p.m.