With Program on Pause, Barry Alvarez, Paul Chryst Figure Out What's Next

MADISON, Wis. – Although the numbers weren’t pretty, the ninth-ranked Wisconsin football team was still technically in the clear to play its scheduled Big Ten road game at Nebraska Saturday afternoon. However, with 12 positive tests over five days and many more pending, University of Wisconsin chancellor Rebecca Blank and Athletic Director Barry Alvarez couldn’t risk chancing an even bigger outbreak.

“With that number of positives in that short of timeline, the chancellor and I felt we have an issue that we had to make this decision,” Alvarez said. “Let’s get our arms around this and control the virus now before it got out of hand.”

Wisconsin announced Wednesday morning that Saturday's game is canceled and it is pausing all team-related activities for seven days “due to an elevated number of COVID-19 cases” within the program. The Nebraska game will be considered a “no-contest” rather than a forfeit even though the Big Ten didn’t make the final determination.

Alvarez said Wisconsin was in the “orange-red” category, meaning the team’s positive rate (number of positive tests divided by total number of tests administered) over a seven-day rolling period was between 2-5 percent and its population positivity rate (number of positive individuals divided by total population at risk) was over 7.5 percent. The category meant UW had to enhance coronavirus prevention measures and weight the viability of continuing with practices and scheduled games.

With six players and six staff members, including head coach Paul Chryst, testing positive and the school awaiting more results, the numbers were not trending in the right direction.

“We didn’t feel comfortable, particularly with as few as we had prior to (Friday),” Alvarez said. “If we wanted to continue to play for the year, make this move now.”

Big Ten protocols require players who test positive to be held out of team activities for 21 days, while UW players who haven’t tested positive are being isolated for at least seven days and will still undergo daily testing. Infected players are likely to be moved into an area hotel for at least a week.

The pause means Wisconsin won’t be able to begin practicing for the November 7 game against Purdue until Nov. 4 at the earliest, giving them only three on-field days to prepare. Wisconsin coaches must isolate for 10 days before returning to in-person work. Chryst found out he was positive Wednesday and couldn’t rejoin the team until presumably next Friday.

“We’ll see where we are as far as testing and we’ll make that decision as we move closer to the (Purdue) game,” Alvarez said. “The most important thing right now is to quarantine our players and get this under control. We’ll make that decision about playing the next game when that time comes.”

Chryst – speaking to reporters from his home where he is in isolation – did not know what event triggered the outbreak. The Badgers had just two known cases prior to Saturday, suggesting that those who tested positive over the weekend – one of whom reportedly is starting quarterback Graham Mertz – had the virus when UW beat Illinois last Friday but weren’t showing symptoms.

During the game, Wisconsin’s sixth-year head coach was criticized on social media for not properly wearing the mask speaking to players, coaches and officials, seen having the mask below his chin or not covering his nose. Chryst said it was due in part to his glasses fogging up on a brisk night. With the team staying at a hotel the night before the game, Chryst said the team did to-go meals and spaced-out seating instead of eating together.

“Do I know that something there caused it,” Chryst said. “I don’t know ground zero or where it really started.”

Despite some flaws, both Alvarez and Chryst spoke in favor of the daily quick-response testing program the conference uses to identity those infected.

“From the moment we got back together, (we’re) talking to our players all the time about what’s happening. You can have the best of intentions and you can do all that you can and it can still happen,” Chryst said. “It feels different when you’re one of the, I don’t want to say contributors, but I’ve got to listen to the words that I was talking to them.”

Getting back to the field and resuming games is critical for Wisconsin if it wants to play for a Big Ten championship, if not more.

The Big Ten’s revised conference-only schedule doesn’t include any bye weeks due to a delayed start to the season. To qualify for the conference title game, a team must play in at least six games or a team must play no fewer than two conference games than the average conference games between all teams (i.e. four games played if the conference average is six).

Alvarez stated he believes Wisconsin has got a team that can do some damage, but another missed game will put UW at the required to play for a Big Ten title. With much uncertainty, Chryst is focused on flattening his team’s curve over the next seven days.

“The seven-day pause is important for us,” he said. “We’ve got to do that well. That’s got to go kind of serve its proper purpose and then we can kind of address the other parts of it.”