Wisconsin Badgers will not be playing football on Saturday. It will be another Saturday without the Badgers as they’re shut down for a week. Who knows if it will be longer than that. Wisconsin is the first Big Ten team to have a COVID issue. Not surprising that Wisconsin’s Athletic Director Barry Alvarez is now questioning the Big Ten rule that restricts players from coming back until a 21-day hiatus. The rule was odd when it first came out, therefore, it’s not surprising that one of the major Big Ten power brokers is seeing issues with it. The Big Ten dug their feet in the sand, but Alvarez has a point here about a truly illogical rule.

The whole reason for the 21-day rule was based on heart issues that could develop after COVID-19. The virus does affect the heart at times as we saw with Ryquell Armstead of Jacksonville Jaguars. He is out for the year after bouts with COVID that could have affected his heart. He is one person though. The examples are not flowing in athletes with heart issues because of COVID-19. They do not exist. In fact, there are practically no examples of the Big Ten players having heart issues after COVID.

Will the Big Ten swallow their pride and admit that this rule was a poor one? They should. Will they? That’s another question. People like to dunk on what happened with the Big Ten, but let’s be clear if they reverse this rule, it is not a dunk. Rather, this is a new thing that we’re all learning about. When science tells us something different we need to adjust and make better, more tactical decisions. Being that it is week number two, the Big Ten might be less likely to budge compared to the middle of the season. Also while Alvarez carries a big sword, this didn’t happen to Michigan or Ohio State.

Now we wait to see a few things. One, does Wisconsin’s spread get any worse? Two, can Wisconsin get their positivity rate down next week to play against Purdue? This story is far from over.

Charlie.