Due to positive COVID tests and contract tracing, the Washington Huskies are unable to field the minimum required number of scholarship players for the Pac-12 championship game scheduled for this Friday evening, and have thus withdrawn from the game.

Since Washington, who is the team with the best record in the Pac-12 North Division, is unable to participate in the game, the team with the next best record in the North Division will be substituted, which, in this case, is the the University of Oregon. The Ducks with face the South Division champs, the USC Trojans, this Friday night for the Pac-12 Championship.

Washington Huskies HC Jimmy Lake released the following statement regarding Washington's withdraw from the Pac-12 Championship Game:

“Our goal every season is to win the Pac-12 Championship. I am so proud of the work our team and staff have put in to position ourselves to attain that goal. Unfortunately, the virus is in our footprint. We have not been able to resume football activities and currently the entirety of one of our key position groups, deemed a critical position group by the Pac-12, is in quarantine. There is no path forward to practice or play this week. Our focus now is getting everyone healthy so we can resume football activities and prepare for a possible bowl game. We are crushed that we cannot bring home the Pac-12 trophy for our fans, staff and players.”

Meanwhile, the USC Trojans have been preparing to face both Washington and Oregon in case this exact situation arose. USC HC Clay Helton made the following statement to the media this morning:

"We really started yesterday working on Washington and focusing on Washington. Spent the day and night and spent some walk throughs yesterday afternoon with the team just Washington. That will be the same today for our football team."

This possibility has been clear ever since Washington was forced to cancel last week's game against Oregon, which would have sent the winner to the championship game had it been played. The Pac-12 announced Sunday that Oregon would play Colorado this weekend in LA (where the Pac-12 Championship is to be played), which was done to allow either Oregon or Colorado to be used as a replacement team if either division winner was unable to play.