Colorado State University was supposed to play the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on Saturday, but then the game was canceled, according to a tweet by Doug Samuels of Football Scoop. 

Due to positive COVID-19 tests and the resulting contact tracing within the UNLV football program, the Rebels are unable to travel and participate in the scheduled football game at Colorado State on Saturday, Nov. 21.” – Mountain West Conference press release

But these initial claims seemed to be false, as the next morning, in Wednesday’s post-practice press conference, head coach Steve Addazio commented on the alleged cancelation, saying, “We are 100% ready to rock-and-roll.”

On Colorado State’s cancellation, per source: It’s more likely, at this point, the MWC will try to arrange a rematch with Wyoming before it shifts focus to a CSU-CU game. Another CSU-Wyoming game would not count toward conference standings.

— Kyle Bonagura (@BonaguraESPN) Nov. 18

Just hours after that, the Mountain West Conference website released a statement indicating this Saturday’s contest will not be played. The statement reads, “Due to positive COVID-19 tests and the resulting contact tracing within the UNLV football program, the Rebels are unable to travel and participate in the scheduled football game at Colorado State on Saturday, Nov. 21.”

If anything, the confusion and uncertainty surrounding what was and what was not a legitimate report regarding this game over a 24-hour period was a testament to the absurdity of how college football has operated throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. 

It is important to note that the Mountain West website update did not use the word “canceled” in regard to this game. While there have been no official indications of a rescheduling, Addazio has repeatedly expressed his openness and desire to find a new opponent for the Rams this weekend. According to Yahoo! Sports reporter Pete Thamel, Addazio said yesterday, “We want to play football. I just want to try and keep developing our football team as long as the conferences agree.”

Many on social media have been pushing for this now void UNLV slot to be filled by the University of Colorado Boulder Buffaloes, in what would be a late and unexpected Rocky Mountain Showdown.

According to CBS Sports, Pacific-12 Conference athletic directors recently voted to approve the addition of nonconference games to current schedules, which would mean that if the presidents and chancellors of the Pac-12 also approve this variation, a CSU vs. CU game is very much still possible.

Even if a game is possible, this does not mean that it is extremely likely to happen. According to Kyle Bonagura of ESPN, a more likely alternative is that the Mountain West will schedule CSU a rematch with the University of Wyoming, but the game would not count toward league standings.  

Bonagura also stated that there is a possibility that the UNLV game would be rescheduled to be played on the same date as the Mountain West Conference title game, as neither UNLV nor CSU are likely to qualify. 

With all of this speculation, it is very unclear if the Rams will have a game or not this weekend, and if they do, there is no way of telling whom it will be against. At the moment, the only certainty is that CSU will not be playing UNLV as a COVID-19 outbreak steals a second game from the Rams.

Scott Nies can be reached at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @scott_nies98.