Saturday's Florida-LSU football game postponed to Dec. 12 because of coronavirus outbreak

As had been expected, the coronavirus outbreak within the Florida Gators (2-1) football program has led to the postponement of Saturday's game against the LSU Tigers (1-2).

"The LSU at Florida football game of Oct. 17 has been postponed due to positive tests and subsequent quarantining of individuals within the Florida football program, consistent with Southeastern Conference COVID-19 management requirements," the SEC announced in an official statement released on Wednesday. 

"The game is tentatively rescheduled for Dec. 12 in Gainesville."

News of Florida's ongoing virus outbreak first broke on Tuesday when the university confirmed that five football players tested positive. Hours later, however, Florida paused all football activities amid reports that at least 19 people associated with the program had recently returned positive test results. 

"As we get more numbers, we're getting a better idea of trying to trace the origins of it," Florida coach Dan Mullen said on Wednesday, per ESPN news services. "We have not been able to do that."

Mullen recently generated controversy by saying he wanted Florida to completely fill its stadium for home games despite concerns related to the pandemic. The Gators have thus far limited capacity to 20% and aren't expected to expand beyond that as of this time. 

Mullen backtracked on those comments on Wednesday. 

"Whatever our local health officials come out and say, 'This is the number of people that we're going to allow at the game right now,' that I want to encourage those people to come in, bring the energy, bring the excitement in the stadium and help our team to win," he said, according to Alex Scarborough of ESPN. 

Florida-LSU is the second SEC game of the season and the week rescheduled because of positive tests and quarantines. On Monday, the Vanderbilt Commodores postponed Saturday's contest versus the Missouri Tigers.