MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin appears to be facing the type of nightmare scenario that coaches feared as soon as the coronavirus pandemic arrived. What happens if an outbreak hits a team’s quarterback room?
Wisconsin isn’t commenting on the COVID-19 testing results of individual players amid reports that quarterback Graham Mertz has tested positive a second time and can’t play for at least three more weeks.
The Badgers conceivably could head into Saturday’s game at Nebraska with Danny Vanden Boom as their only available scholarship quarterback.
That said, the game could be at risk of being canceled depending on whether other Badger players contract the virus.
The Big Ten Conference uses data from each chief infection officer to make decisions regarding practice and competition. Decisions would be made based on the seven-day rolling average for test and population positivity rates.
The test positivity rate is determined by the number of positive tests divided by the total number of tests administered.
- Green 0-2%
- Orange 2-5%
- Red >5%
The population positivity rate is the number of positive cases divided by the total population at risk.
- Green 0-3.5%
- Orange 3.5-7.5%
- Red >7.5%
If a team enters the red for both categories, that team must stop practice and competition for at least seven days.
With 113 players on the Badgers football roster, six positive tests would put the team into the red with 5.3%.
If the Nebraska game were to be called off, it would be considered a no-contest rather than a forfeit.
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