Auburn pauses football activities due to 12 positive COVID-19 tests

Roughly 24 hours after the Mississippi State Bulldogs had to postpone Saturday's football game against the Auburn Tigers due to a coronavirus outbreak within the program, Auburn is dealing with its own COVID-19 issues. 

Per Adam Rittenberg of ESPN, Auburn has temporarily paused team activities after at least nine players and three staff members tested positive for the virus.

"The unique thing about it is we had seven straight weeks where we had zero positives," Auburn coach Gus Malzahn told media members on Tuesday. "Our guys did a really good job. We'll get this thing under control and get prepared to play our next game."

Auburn hasn't competed since trouncing the LSU Tigers 48-11 on Halloween and is next scheduled to face the Tennessee Volunteers on Nov. 21. 

"Our coaches are preparing [for Tennessee next week], but like I said, we're going to just take it day by day and get this thing under control," Malzahn explained. "We knew this year that there would be some challenges. I told our team that there's going to be a week that we could have some challenges. We'll get through this, but the number one thing is that we get this thing under control before we get back into our routine. I have a strong feeling we'll be able to do that in a short period of time."

It's hoped the Auburn-Mississippi State contest can occur on Dec. 12.