LOS ANGELES — The University of Southern California’s football program on Saturday announced the Trojans had collectively– medical team, players, staff, head coach, and athletic director – made the decision to opt out of playing in a bowl game this season.

USC’s football program has experienced a rise in COVID-19 cases among its players and staff. The decision to opt out of the playing in the bowl game was made following a recommendation from the USC medical team.

"I am incredibly inspired by our players and the sacrifices they made these past six months to play the game that they love," said head coach, Clay Helton. "They did everything we asked of them to abide by the challenging guidelines they had to follow to stay safe and well, whether it was daily testing or keeping distant from family and friends or training in less-than-ideal ways. It has not been easy, and it is hard for anyone outside the program to understand how immensely difficult these past few months have been for them.”

According to the USC football program, due to stringent COVID-19 health and safety protocols, players had been separated from their families since the Pac-12 voted to resume football practices and competitions in September.

“We are a student-athlete-centered athletics program; thus we fully support the decision to opt out of a bowl game this year. The physical and mental health and the safety of our student-athletes is paramount, and this season has been unimaginably taxing on our players in particular,” said athletic director, Mike Bohn.

By opting out of the bowl game, Trojan players will have the opportunity to spend time with their families during the holiday break, according to USC’s football program. 

The Trojans (5-1), who lost 31-24 to Oregon in the Pac-12 title game Friday night, would have been at risk of falling under the conference’s minimum number of 53 available scholarship players because of positive tests for COVID-19 and injuries after playing their third game in 13 days.

USC joins Stanford, UCLA, Utah, Washington and Washington State in ruling out bowl bids, with the Huskies still dealing with a COVID-19 outbreak that prevented them from facing the Trojans in the conference title game.

The Pac-12 is down to four bowl tie-ins, with the Holiday, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Redbox and Sun bowls canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

However, USC's decision means the Pac-12 will not be able to fill those spots after deciding that its teams needed to be at least .500 to become bowl eligible, overruling NCAA guidelines that will allow teams to play in a bowl game regardless of their record this season.

The Ducks are likely headed to the Fiesta Bowl after earning the conference’s automatic berth in the New Year’s Six. Colorado also has a winning record and has expressed interest in playing in a bowl, while Arizona State could reach .500 by beating Oregon State on Saturday night.