UW-Minnesota game canceled
MADISON – For the third time this college football season, Wisconsin’s players and coaches have lost a game to coronavirus.
A source told the Journal Sentinel on Tuesday that UW’s Big Ten game Saturday against visiting Minnesota will not be played.
Minnesota officials subsequently announced the Gophers will pause all team-related activities because of positive coronavirus cases within in the program and that the game has been canceled.
According to Minnesota:
The decision to pause football activities was made by athletic director Mark Coyle, university President Joan Gabel and athletics’ medical director Brad Nelson after consulting with the Big Ten Conference.
“The health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches and staff has always been our main priority,” Coyle said in a release. “We have experienced an increase in positive cases recently and have made the responsible decision to pause team activities.
“We will continue to rely on the guidance of our medical experts as we navigate the next several days. We are doing everything we possibly can to miss the fewest amount of days possible. Our goal is to be healthy enough and ready to compete on December 5 against Northwestern.”
Nine student-athletes and six staff members have tested positive for COVID-19 in the last five days. There were additional presumptive positive tests Tuesday and the program was awaiting confirmation of those results.
“This is the right decision,” Nelson, the department’s medical director, said in the release. “There was a sudden increase in positive cases and this pause will allow the team to focus on stopping the spread of the virus.”
The Gophers last week defeated Purdue, 34-31. Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck explained the Gophers were without 22 players because of injuries or COVID-19. He noted the Purdue game was nearly called off.
“The health and safety of our student-athletes will always come first,” Fleck said in the release Tuesday. “Like almost every program in the country, we have been affected on some level by COVID-19 every week this season, but these last few days have resulted in more cases than we have previously seen.
“I am disappointed for our studentathletes and our fans that we will not be able to compete on Saturday, but we need to focus on the health of our student-athletes and staff, which means stopping the spread of the virus.
“I support the decision made by our administration and medical professionals in consultation with the Big Ten Conference, and I want to thank our athletic trainers and team doctors for everything they are doing to support our program. We will return when it is determined safe to do so by medical experts.”
UW officials canceled games earlier this season against Nebraska and Purdue because of high coronavirus numbers in the program.
UW (2-1) likely can’t catch firstplace Northwestern (5-0) in the Big Ten West Division, but the third cancellation makes the Badgers ineligible for the league title game.
According to league rules, teams must play at least six games to qualify for the title game. One exception is if the average number of games played by all league teams falls below six.
UW could have one slim option to face a Big Ten foe this week even if Minnesota cancels the game.
Another league team would have to lose a game because its opponent canceled because of COVID-19 issues. That game also would have to be canceled by Wednesday in order for UW to schedule a new game.
The UW-Minnesota rivalry was born in 1890, with the Gophers rolling to a 63-0 victory in Minneapolis. The game has been played every year since, except for 1906, when UW’s faculty declined to agree to several rules changes implemented by the league.
The rivalry resumed in 1907 and the teams battled to a 17-17 tie in Madison.
UW has won 22 of the past 25 meetings and seeing players from either team parade around the stadium with Paul Bunyan’s Axe has become an iconic scene for UW and Minnesota fans.
UW offensive tackle Cole Van Lanen and linebacker Jack Sanborn recall the pain experienced in 2018 by their senior teammates when the Gophers rolled to a 37-15 victory in Madison to snap a 14-game losing streak in the series.
“Being in that locker room and seeing the seniors just devastated … my first feeling of this rivalry was just the lowest of lows,” Sanborn, now a junior, said early Tuesday.
The scene was different last season in Minneapolis.
UW pounded Minnesota, 38-17, in the snow to secure a berth in the Big Ten title game and take back the axe.
“Celebrating with the whole team, on their field,” Sanborn said, “was one moment that I’ll never forget.”
No one will parade the axe around Camp Randall Stadium on Saturday. The rivalry will have to wait until 2021.