Wisconsin football game vs. Michigan is on track after Badgers’ 2-week COVID absence

It sounds like Wisconsin will play Michigan this weekend after all.

After having its last two games canceled, Wisconsin is on track to return to the field for Saturday’s game against Michigan.

The No. 13 Wisconsin Badgers are 1-0 on the season after dismantling the Illinois Fighting Illini a few weeks ago. However, a coronavirus outbreak internally saw games vs. the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Purdue Boilermakers canceled. If Wisconsin wants to make the College Football Playoff for the first time, the Badgers cannot have another game canceled this year.

The good news for Wisconsin is it seems they will be back on track to face the Michigan Wolverines in the Big House on Saturday night. The Badgers currently have five active cases, two players and three staff members and have not had a positive test in five of the last six days. After a two-week hiatus from playing, we are only a few days away from the Badgers returning.

“We had no new positives on Tuesday and Wednesday, which was a great sign,” UW Director of Athletics Barry Alvarez said. “That’s when we started thinking Friday could be a day we could get the team together to start doing things with an eye towards having a regular practice week this week. So we were cautious on Friday and Saturday, split guys into groups, and just did conditioning. The team then got together and held its regular Monday practice this morning.

“We feel confident that we have a handle on the situation and are excited to play this week at Michigan. As we have done throughout, we will continue to monitor our testing results and base our decision on those results.”

Wisconsin won’t have Graham Mertz vs. Michigan

The Badgers are facing a Michigan team that has lost its last two games and may see the Jim Harbaugh era of Wolverines football come to an end soon.

However, the Badgers do not have an easy game the rest of the way after that, and they’ll still have to play the Wolverines without starting quarterback Graham Mertz due to the Big Ten’s 21-day holdout after positive COVID tests. Danny Vanden Boom is expected to get the start.

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