If you haven’t heard by now, the Wisconsin Badgers’ game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers this weekend has been canceled due to rising COVID-19 numbers within the Badger football program. It all started when the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported …
If you haven’t heard by now, the Wisconsin Badgers’ game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers this weekend has been canceled due to rising COVID-19 numbers within the Badger football program.
It all started when the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that redshirt freshman quarterback Graham Mertz tested positive this weekend, then third-string quarterback Chase Wolf after him, and now, per the release, 12 members of the program after full-program PCR tests were administered yesterday.
Related: How Wisconsin canceling the Nebraska game affects the rest of the season
The team was supposed to play eight games in eight weeks this fall. To be quite honest: that was never going to happen, and we have the Big Ten to thank for that.
Back in August, the conference canceled the season, five days after releasing a new conference-only schedule that had bye weeks and plenty of room for flexibility.
That’s the key word in college football this year: Flexibility.
Related: Breaking: Wisconsin HC Paul Chryst among those positive for COVID-19
Thanks to the conference abruptly canceling the season, instead of pushing it back a few weeks or just waiting and buying time, they left themselves with zero bye weeks and zero open weeks on the schedule. They left themselves, then, with zero flexibility. The 8-game, 8-week schedule was a utopian scenario. And was one that was never going to be completed without interruption.
I wrote about the conference’s decision to cancel the season back when it happened, and I had the exact same thoughts as I do today: they panicked, and set themselves up for failure down the road.
Now, this isn’t about why they canceled the season in the first place, as they had real concerns about playing and everything that comes with it. But the way they went about it–secretive and dismissive–was not in the best interests of the conference and had they pushed it back a few weeks instead of canceling, we wouldn’t be where we are today.
Now, why is that?
First, it must be noted that increased and improved testing does not keep the virus out, it just helps to prevent outbreaks before they occur.
So had there been bye weeks or open weeks on the schedule, then canceled games like the one on Saturday would be able to be played at a later date.
This won’t be the only outbreak and/or canceled game of the season, trust me. But if I’m the conference I want to play a full season, if I’m the fans I want to see the teams play a full season, if I’m everybody involved I want to see the teams play a full season. There is nobody out there that doesn’t believe that playing a full season isn’t the best-case scenario.
Look at the NFL and the MLB. Both had significant hiccups as they returned to play, but both have dealt with them well and had the flexibility to carry on and continue playing.
The Big Ten’s decision to cancel back in August didn’t only push the season back to late-October, it ensured that the schedule would not be completed while other conferences carry on to the College Football Playoff and postseason.
