BREAKING: Saturday’s battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe is canceled

Earlier this season the Wisconsin Badgers experienced a COVID-19 outbreak within their program and saw two of their games canceled…

Earlier this season the Wisconsin Badgers experienced a COVID-19 outbreak within their program and saw two of their games canceled, putting them on the brink of not being able to fulfill the six-game requirement to qualify for the Big Ten Championship.

Well, in a year where it seems nothing can go right, the team will now have its third game cancelation of the season as, according to a report from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Jeff Potrykus, Saturday’s rivalry matchup between the Wisconsin Badgers and the Minnesota Golden Gophers “is a no-go” due to COVID-19 cases within the Minnesota football program.

The 2-1 Badgers now have just two games left on their schedule and, unless they’re able to find another Big Ten opponent for this weekend, they will not qualify for the conference championship game.

Related: What Northwestern HC Pat Fitzgerald said about Wisconsin after the game

Making the conference championship would have been a longshot anyway after last weekend’s loss at Northwestern, but what many feared after the team’s Week 2 and Week 3 games were canceled has now come true with one of their opponents experience an outbreak and being unable to play.

Paul Chryst and his team will take the field next at home against the No. 12 Indiana Hoosiers in what will be their second-to-last regular-season game of the year.

Related: Wisconsin basketball’s toughest non-conference opponent is not who you think it is

Stay tuned to BadgersWire in the coming days for more information on the cancelation of Saturday’s game and what it means for the Wisconsin football program going forward.