Late Monday morning, Wisconsin announced that its football program started its "regular game week preparations" earlier in the day.
According to the athletic department statement, the Badgers are slated "to practice each day this week in anticipation of Saturday’s scheduled game at Michigan but UW Athletics will continue to monitor the program’s COVID-19 testing results closely to determine the team’s activities moving forward."
UW reported that its football program holds five active COVID-19 cases at the moment, which includes three staff members and two student-athletes. In a promising trend, it has only seen one staff member and one student-athlete each receive a positive test result since Monday, Nov. 2. As the athletic department noted in the past six days, five "have yielded no positive cases."
“We had no new positives on Tuesday and Wednesday which was a great sign,” UW athletic director Barry Alvarez said in the statement. “That’s when we started thinking Friday could be a day we could get the team together to start doing things with an eye towards having a regular practice week this week. So we were cautious on Friday and Saturday, split guys into groups, and just did conditioning. The team then got together and held its regular Monday practice this morning.
“We feel confident that we have a handle on the situation and are excited to play this week at Michigan. As we have done throughout, we will continue to monitor our testing results and base our decision on those results.”
UW (1-0) defeated Illinois 45-7 on Oct. 23 before having to cancel its last two scheduled Big Ten matchups against Nebraska and Purdue. Saturday's kickoff from Ann Arbor is currently set for 6:30 p.m. CST on ABC.
Wisconsin head coach Paul Chryst is slated to speak with reporters at 12:30 p.m. CT. Stay tuned to BadgerBlitz.com for more.
Here is Wisconsin's statement in full:
WISCONSIN FOOTBALL UPDATE (Nov. 9)
The Wisconsin football team began its regular game week preparations on Monday morning. The team is scheduled to practice each day this week in anticipation of Saturday’s scheduled game at Michigan but UW Athletics will continue to monitor the program’s COVID-19 testing results closely to determine the team’s activities moving forward.
The football program currently has five active COVID-19 cases, two student-athletes and three staff members. Since Nov. 2, one staff member and one student-athlete have tested positive. Five of the last six days have yielded no positive cases.
“We had no new positives on Tuesday and Wednesday which was a great sign,” UW Director of Athletics Barry Alvarez said. “That’s when we started thinking Friday could be a day we could get the team together to start doing things with an eye towards having a regular practice week this week. So we were cautious on Friday and Saturday, split guys into groups, and just did conditioning. The team then got together and held its regular Monday practice this morning.
“We feel confident that we have a handle on the situation and are excited to play this week at Michigan. As we have done throughout, we will continue to monitor our testing results and base our decision on those results.”
The Badger football team first paused team activities on Oct. 28 and its scheduled games at Nebraska on Oct. 31 and home vs. Purdue on Nov. 7 were canceled.
