The San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl game between the NC State Wolfpack and the UCLA Bruins was canceled hours before kickoff due to COVID-19 protocols involving UCLA's football program.
The announcement came Tuesday at approximately 3:30 p.m. ET.
ESPN reported that the game was set to kick off at 8 p.m. ET.
In a tweet, the Bruins said they wouldn't be able to play the game "due to COVID-19 protocols within the Bruins’ program."
"We are extremely grateful to the Holiday Bowl, students fans, sponsors, and the people of San Diego for their support this week," UCLA Director of Athletics Martin Jarmond said in a statement posted to Twitter. "We are deeply disappointed for our young men in the football program that worked extremely hard for this opportunity. My heart goes out to them. The health and safety of our students will always be our North Star."
NC State said the team was "heartbroken" it would not be able to compete on Tuesday.
"Heartbroken to not be able to compete one more time this season. We were informed a short time ago that our opponent would be unable to play this evening," a tweet from NC State's football team read.
No further information about the cancelation, status of those involved, or how refunds would be handled was immediately released.
According to ESPN, this is the fifth bowl game to be canceled this year due to COVID-19, joining the Arizona Bowl, Hawai'i Bowl, Fenway Bowl, and Military Bowl.
Mark Saunders at KGTV first reported this story.
