MADISON, Wisc. — The Wisconsin Badgers have canceled their upcoming football game against Nebraska as the athletic program deals with a COVID-19 outbreak.
No. 9 Wisconsin and Nebraska were scheduled to play on Saturday in Lincoln, Nebraska.
The news comes after 12 people within the Wisconsin program tested positive for COVID-19. According to the University of Wisconsin, that figure includes six student-athletes and six staff members, including head football coach Paul Chryst. Additional test results are pending.
Quarterback Graham Mertz, a Blue Valley North graduate and the 2019 Thomas A. Simone Award winner as the top high school football plauers in Kansas City, is reportedly among the players who tested positive.
“We have said from the beginning that the health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches and staff members come first,” Wisconsin Athletic Director Barry Alvarez said. “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.”
Wisconsin does not plan to reschedule the game and will be pausing all team-related activities for at least seven days.
In announcing their return to play in September, the Big Ten said that any team that sees 5% of tests to come back positive on a rolling seven-day average would need to shut down all team activities for seven days.
Wisconsin’s next scheduled game is at home against Purdue on Nov. 7. Nebraska will also play next on Nov. 7 when they travel to Northwestern.
This story was originally published by Julia Marshall on WTMJ in Milwaukee.
