Wisconsin-Nebraska football game canceled due to Badgers COVID outbreak

With 12 members of the Wisconsin football program testing positive for COVID-19, Saturday’s game vs. Nebraska has been canceled.

Big Ten football got underway last week and Wisconsin opened up with a blowout victory over Illinois. That put the Badgers at No. 9 overall in the AP Top 25 and the team was set to compete for a playoff spot.

Then came the bad news. Starting quarterback Graham Mertz tested positive for COVID and is out for 21 days and then his backup, Chase Wolf also tested positive so the team is down to fourth-stringer Danny Vanden Boom.

And now, a further outbreak has resulted in Saturday’s game vs. Nebraska getting canceled.

“We have said from the beginning that the health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches and staff members comes first,” Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez said in a statement. “Over the past several days we have seen a rising number of student-athletes and staff contract the virus. The responsible thing for us to do is to pause football-related activities for at least seven days.”

“We thank and appreciate our athletic trainers, doctors and public health staff who are supporting the health and safety of our student-athletes and program,” said Blank.

Paul Chryst is among the 12 members of the Wisconsin football program to test positive for COVID, resulting in the Nebraska game getting canceled.

The statement explains how 12 individuals, including head coach Paul Chryst, have tested positive. The school is also waiting for further results.

“This morning I received the news that I had tested positive via a PCR test I took yesterday,” Chryst said. “I informed my staff and the team this morning and am currently isolating at home. I had not been experiencing any symptoms and feel good as of this morning.

“I am disappointed for our players and coaching staff who put so much into preparing to play each week. But the safety of everyone in our program has to be our top priority and I support the decision made to pause our team activities.”

The Big Ten has ruled that any player who tests positive must sit out for 21 days. That is going to be difficult for a team to handle if there is a major outbreak and they want to play a full season. The reality is that Wisconsin is not going to play a full schedule as the game against Nebraska will not be rescheduled.

As always, the first concern here should be on the health of everyone who did test positive. The risks were there when the season began and now we are seeing the Big Ten’s first major outbreak. Hopefully, it is limited to just one team.

The team’s next scheduled game is November 7 against Purdue. Having a large number of players be out for 21 days could put that game in jeopardy as well. The Badgers will also still be down several quarterbacks during that time.

There are more questions than answers right now and the hope is everyone who did test positive recovers without any problems. Playing games can be worried about once that is the case.

For more NCAA football news, analysis, opinion and unique coverage by FanSided, including Heisman Trophy and College Football Playoff rankings, be sure to bookmark these pages.