After an avalanche of departures from the Texas A&M football team, the Aggies would not get a break from the bad news. This time, it’ll be another COVID-19-related setback for the Texas A&M football team.
According to Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated, the Texas A&M football team will not be playing in the Gator Bowl due to a COVID outbreak. Here’s his tweet breaking the news.
Because of a COVID outbreak, Texas A&M is unable to play in the Gator Bowl, sources tell @SINow. Aggies don’t have enough available players.
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) December 22, 2021
Gator is searching for a replacement bowl team, sources say, but the only way that's possible is if another bowl is impacted.
This will be a huge setback for Texas A&M, as the football program will be missing out on a lot of money. According to Dellenger, the bowl payout is over $5M, which would have likely helped the university pay for Jimbo Fisher’s massive contract.
Does it really matter to fans if the Texas A&M football team can’t play?
In short, no.
The Texas A&M football team that fans would have been watching in the Gator Bowl would not have been the team that they watched all season long. You’d have no Zach Calzada, putting walk-on freshman Blake Bost under center. In the backfield, Isaiah Spiller would be missing. Jalen Wydermyer would be gone at tight end and Kenyon Green would not be playing on the offensive line.
Defensively, the Aggies would see most of the unit remain relatively intact, but the best player on the unit would be gone in DeMarvin Leal, who also departed for the NFL Draft already. This Aggie team would have been a shadow of what it was and it would not have been a fun one.
If you want my honest opinion, Texas A&M may have dodged a bullet here. With the most important three players on the offense out, A&M may not have managed to put a single point on the board. Heck, the offense was struggling with the aforementioned players being active.
In news that doesn’t really concern Texas A&M, the Gator Bowl now finds itself in a pickle. Here’s what the circumstances look like.
"If a bowl is not played, teams do not receive the payout. Gator Bowl payout is $5.35M. There are no possibilities of a replacement like last year, Nick Carparelli has told @SInow. This is why the Gator likely needs another bowl team to dropout."
In short, they’d need another (lesser) bowl game to see a team drop out and merge the two games. Cancellations are rampant, so this seems entirely possible.