PAC-12 Apologizes For False-Positive That Impacted Stanford In All The Worst Ways

The PAC-12 messed up. It messed with a team's season and left the conference itself open to doubt.

But hey, at least the PAC-12 apologized. Or something.

The case at hand involves a Stanford football player who registered a positive COVID-19 test. Because of contact tracing, that positive test kept starting quarterback Davis Mills and top wide receiver Connor Weddington out of Saturday's loss to Oregon.

But upon further review, that positive turned out to be a false positive. So Mills, Weddington and several others were sidelined for no reason.

Oops, the PAC-12 said in a statement.

It reads as follows:

“During Pac-12 game day testing this past Saturday, there were testing protocol errors with respect to a Stanford student-athlete who tested positive for COVID-19. The student-athlete and others who were immediately identified as individuals who would be high-risk contacts if the student-athlete were positive did not play in the game in accordance with Pac-12 protocols and the student-athletes were immediately isolated. Upon return to campus, Stanford, in communication with the Pac-12 COVID-19 Medical Advisory Committee, administered a daily PCR diagnostic testing cadence that has consistently shown that the student-athlete does not have COVID-19 and is thus cleared to resume practice and competition. The Pac-12 medical group has reviewed and supports the decision. We apologize to the Stanford football team and its supporters and especially to the student-athletes who were held out of the game as a result of the testing protocol errors. We are working with our game day testing partner to ensure this type of error does not occur in the future.”

Nobody figured Stanford would beat nationally-ranked Oregon, even with Mills and Weddington. Then again, the Cardinal did put up quite a fight with the backups, trailing just 14-7 at halftime.

So you never know what may have happened if Stanford had been allowed to play its starting QB and main receiving threat.

But it's too late now. All we can be sure of is that Mills, Weddington and the others have returned to practice and are ready to play in Stanford's game against Colorado on Saturday.

That is, unless the PAC-12 goofs again.

Written by
Sam Amico spent 15 years covering the NBA for Sports Illustrated, FOX Sports and NBA.com, along with a few other spots, and currently runs his own basketball website on the side, FortyEightMinutes.com.