BOISE – The Boise State football team’s home opener against Portland State will proceed as scheduled, school officials and coach Spencer Danielson confirmed Monday.
Portland State had to cancel its game last Saturday against South Dakota due to a whooping cough outbreak amongst the team.
Boise State briefly looked into an alternative opponent for Saturday before Portland State officials informed them they would have enough healthy players to play in Boise as scheduled.
According to a Portland State statement Monday morning, others exposed to the player who was diagnosed with whooping cough started a five-day course of antibiotics, which will allow them to participate on Saturday.
The school also said, “only athletes and staff who have completed the antibiotic regimen will be eligible to travel and participate in the upcoming game.”
Boise State is scheduled to pay Portland State $425,000 for traveling and playing the game in Boise.
Danielson said he wasn’t worried for the safety of his players and was excited for Saturday’s game.
“I trust our doctors, I trust their doctors,” Danielson said Monday. “Had a great chat with their head coach about all the protocols they are using. No, I’m not concerned.”
The Broncos are coming off a bye week and didn’t want to have another week off. Danielson said athletic director Jeramiah Dickey was working the phones to see if another team would potentially be interested in coming to Boise at the last minute, but that ended up not being necessary.
Boise State is the only FBS team who has yet to play a home game.
Kick off is slated for 7:45 p.m. on FS1 and the game is nearing a sellout.
Freaking dumb idea. Cancel! Don’t take any chances for a guaranteed win and possibly a guaranteed virus to go along with it.