This is the type of opportunity that just doesn’t come around very often for Tulsa football, and unfortunately, it's an opportunity that will have to wait.

Tulsa (1-1, 1-0 AAC) was looking forward to attempting to make a national statement on October 17 if it could pull off a mild upset over No. 8 Cincinnati at H.A. Chapman Stadium. However, on Thursday, the game was postponed until December 5 due to positive COVID-19 cases at Cincinnati.

TU will now open the home season on Friday, Oct. 30, against the East Carolina Pirates.

"I'm disappointed, first, for our football student-athletes and coaches, and obviously for our staff who has prepared so diligently, our campus and the City of Tulsa. This TU Homecoming game was a great opportunity to showcase our football program, the community and the American Athletic Conference against the nation's No. 8 team," said Tulsa's Director of Athletics Rick Dickson. "As the university, the conference and the NCAA have said throughout this pandemic, the health and safety of our student-athletes are at the forefront of all decisions."

Make no mistake. Cincinnati (3-0, 1-0) is really good, especially on defense. But the Bearcats are also very beatable. So it's a shame that the game is delayed.

Even more rare is the fact Tulsa was actually playing three highly ranked teams in the first three games of the season. And TU is coming off of an eye-popping 34-26 win at No. 11 Central Florida where TU outscored UCF 29-3 to finish out the game.

“The amount of grit and determination that our team showed the other night was inspiring,” said Tulsa coach Philip Montgomery.

Tulsa’s second half domination at UCF has gotten national attention, and resulted in Cincy only being favored by three points at Tulsa.

But the opportunity to play three teams ranked no higher than No. 11 to open the season, or just consecutively, may never happen again for Tulsa.

There is no reason to think Tulsa isn’t capable of beating Cincinnati, especially at home. TU almost won on the road at No. 21 Cincy last season, being down 17-13 late in the game before losing 24-13. Considering Tulsa was 4-8 and the Bearcats finished 11-3, that is saying something.

Cincinnati hasn’t exactly had any incredible wins this season. Yes, they beat Army, currently ranked No. 22, by a 24-10 margin. But Army (4-1) has no impressive wins. And Cincy beating Austin Peay and USF (4-8 in 2019) isn’t awe-inspiring. The 28-7 win over the Bulls (1-3) means little.

This weekend would've been Cincy’s first venture outside of Nippert Stadium this season, as well as Tulsa’s first home game.