Michigan vs. Maryland canceled due to COVID concerns in Ann Arbor

The Michigan Wolverines and Maryland Terrapins will not be playing this weekend in Ann Arbor with COVID-19 positives within the Michigan program, the program announced on Wednesday afternoon. The news was first reported by Chris Balas of The Wolverine prior to the release sent out shortly thereafter.

Michigan says it is paused through Monday, Dec. 7 and will continue to consult with medical officials on when it is safe to return to action. No announcements or determination has been made about the game at Ohio State next weekend.

Here is the full statement from Michigan:

“The University of Michigan Athletic Department announced today (Wednesday, Dec. 2) that it will be pausing football practices and that Saturday’s game against Maryland has been canceled and will not be rescheduled. This decision to pause in-person football activities was made in consultation with medical professionals and the local health department.

“The decision by our medical professionals to stop practices and cancel this Saturday’s game against Maryland was made with the health, safety and welfare of the student-athletes, coaches and staff as our utmost priority,” said Warde Manuel, the Donald R. Shepherd Director of Athletics. “We have seen an increase in the number of student-athletes unavailable to compete due to positive tests and associated contact tracing due to our most recent antigen and PCR testing results.”

Daily testing will continue and medical professionals will make a determination when to resume practice. The earliest practice can resume will be Monday, Dec. 7.

Michigan paused team activities on Monday due to a number of “presumed positive tests” within the program that were waiting to come back confirmed from PCR tests. That pause extended into Tuesday with meetings taking place virtually before it was decided to pull the plug on this weekend’s game on Wednesday.

The athletic department releases testing numbers each week, but does not break it down by sport. Head coach Jim Harbaugh said this week that there was a presumed positive test ahead of Saturday’s loss to Penn State, but that the player did not suit up in the game. When asked about a number of positives within the program, he said there were “more than zero.”

So, we’ll pick back up on Dec. 7 and see where things go from there. While there is an asterisk next to it, this will be the first football season in the history of the program where Michigan does not have a home win during the season.