MADISON, Wis. – The Big Ten conference released its 10-game fall football schedule on Wednesday with a caveat saying there’s a chance the games might not be played. In three days, the prospect of games looks bleaker.

The Big Ten announced Saturday that, because physical contact is being limited, helmets are the only protective equipment players can wear until further notice. The decision was made based on the advice and counsel of the Big Ten Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases and the Big Ten Sports Medicine Committee.

“Each new phase of activity provides new intelligence and experience and allows us to evaluate the implementation of our Conference and institutional medical protocols in real-time,” the conference said in a statement. “In order to make the right health and safety decisions for our student-athletes, we believe it is best to continue in the appropriate phase of activity referenced above while we digest and share information from each campus to ensure we are moving forward cautiously.

“We understand there are many questions regarding how this impacts schedules, as well as the feasibility of proceeding forward with the season at all. As we have consistently stated, we will continue to evaluate daily, while relying on our medical experts, to make the best decisions possible for the health, safety and wellness of our student-athletes.”

That was the most benign news of the day, however. Among the things being reported Saturday:

* Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren prefers moving the 2020 season from the fall to the spring.

* There is some momentum from Big Ten presidents to cancel the fall football season as “all options are on the table,” according to Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel. Thamel also interviewed Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez for a story Friday in which Alvarez said he’s “very concerned” about football this fall.

*The Mid-American Conference became the first FBS league to shut down football this fall.

NCAA president Mark Emmert said Friday that he remains hopeful college football will be played in 2020, but said the obstacles facing players, coaches and athletic departments this fall are going to be difficult.

“Obviously, everybody wants to have kids back on campus," he said. "Everybody wants fall sports to return. But we can't do it unless we can find a way to do it with minimized risk for these young people.”

Wisconsin is scheduled to open preseason camp on Monday and open Big Ten play on Sept. 4 against visiting Indiana. No official announcement of a camp schedule has been released by Wisconsin, although the department released updated testing numbers Thursday.

UW announced a total of 21 athletes had tested positive out of 1,788 tests. Since June 8, a total of 259 athletes have returned to participate in workouts. Initial testing for COVID-19 revealed just two positive cases out of 117 athletes. That number rose to seven athletes testing positive out of 428 tests through July 8.