Michigan vs. No. 16 Iowa CFB Game Canceled Due to Wolverines' COVID-19 Issues

The University of Michigan officially announced the cancellation of Saturday's football game at Iowa because of a COVID-19 outbreak among players. 

"In accordance with the Big Ten COVID-19 medical policies and health guidelines, we are without a significant number of players for this week's game," athletic director Warde Manuel said. "Couple that with the normal attrition due to injury, and we do not have enough available players at multiple position groups to field a team at Iowa."

Michigan had to cancel last week's game against Ohio State because of the coronavirus. Manuel said the outbreak has worsened, leading to the decision to call off the team's regular-season finale.

"The number of positive tests over the past three weeks, which require a 21-day unavailability period, and the contact tracing requirements associated with those numbers has pushed our current list of unavailable student-athletes to over 50," Manuel said. "This is a very unfortunate situation, and we are disappointed that our program will not be able to finish the season against the Hawkeyes."

Michigan concludes its 2020 regular season with a 2-4 record, the program's first losing one under Jim Harbaugh. While there is no win requirement for bowl games this season, it appears unlikely the Wolverines would accept an invitation given the current state of their program.

The focus may now shift to the future of Harbaugh, who is on the hot seat amid a continued failure to return the Wolverines to national title contention. Harbaugh's teams have finished no better than 10th in the final AP rankings and have won only one bowl game in his six seasons.

Rumors have also persisted about Harbaugh potentially getting ahead of his own firing by leaving Michigan for the NFL.