Wisconsin vs. Purdue canceled due to Covid-19

The global pandemic has now affected the Big Ten, as the #10 Wisconsin Badgers won’t face the Purdue Boilermakers on Saturday because of Covid-19 outbreaks in Madison.

It’s the second straight game the Badgers have canceled, after failing to play Nebraska last week as well because of the virus outbreak. And because of the tight scheduling window in the Big Ten in 2020, the games won’t be rescheduled.

The Wisconsin football team’s home game against Purdue on Saturday will not be played and team-related activities remain paused indefinitely, UW Director of Athletics Barry Alvarez announced Tuesday.

Saturday’s game will not be rescheduled.

“I share in the disappointment of our student-athletes and staff,” Alvarez said. “We have seen a level of improvement in our testing numbers, but not enough to give us confidence to resume normal activities and play our game on Saturday. We will continue to test regularly, take the proper health-related precautions and look forward to getting our team back on the field as soon as possible.”

There have been five (two staff and three student-athletes) positive COVID-19 PCR tests recorded since Saturday, Oct. 31. Over the last seven days (Oct. 27-Nov. 2), student-athletes (10) and staff (11) have registered a total of 21 positive tests. There are currently 27 active cases in the program, all since Saturday, Oct. 24. That includes 15 football student-athletes and 12 staff members.

Wisco beat Illinois 45-7 in their season opener on October 23rd, while Purdue beat Iowa 24-20 to open the season, and Illinois 31-24. This game had big implications to the standings in the Big Ten West division, and who the eventual champion will be is likely to be determined by tiebreakers instead of on the field.