Well, the inevitable happened, and it only took a week and a half! That’s right, fear of the Mighty Nebraska Cornhuskers has raged through the Big Ten, and Wisconsin has caved first, canceling the game and saving themselves from the humiliation of a massive defeat in Lincoln.
What? That’s not true? Well, it’s 2020, and I can say whatever I want and claim it as facts, because that’s what we do now!
But what really happened was that Wisconsin’s football team was experiencing high levels of positive Covid test rates, including at least six players and staff members. Key among these are QB’s Graham Mertz and Chase Wolf, and head coach Paul Chryst.
You can read more here.
Or, you can read more of our half-baked opinions and questions we have. This is unlikely to be the only game to meet this fate this season, as Nebraska is super intimidating and a tough opponent, as infections are spiking sharply throughout the Midwest.
Beez: Yeah no shit this was going to happen. I said when the B1G protocols were released that they were designed to ensure as few games were played as possible. I, and most people who weren’t complete liars and/or bad faith actors (see, e.g., basically all of the loudest, cryingest voices in our national and regional discussions currently) knew there would be oodles of cancellations if a “season” actually happened. Lo and behold, I present to you a map of where COVID is real bad right now:
Oh look at that. Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and parts of Iowa are enormous disasters right now. Whomsoever could have predicted that a region filled with people too polite to tell the “leaders” in their states to put their god damn dicks away and stop thinking they can out-man and out-freedom a virus would be...riddled with virus.
Anyway, enjoy your weekend filled with your favorite team getting to play, but don’t get greedy, because it’s a fucking pandemic that’s as bad now as it was several months ago when “we” “decided” that hurr durr freedoms could overcome, you know, science, and your favorite team’s sad weekend is coming.
Stew: As a completely unbiased, impartial, and fair arbiter in all things related to either UNL or wisconsin, I feel that wisconsin should bear a loss, as it is their idiocies that is causing the game to be cancelled. However, UNL should not be credited with a win, either. Because fuck them, that’s why. (But seriously, I think that’s probably a good way to handle it, and give some incentives to not act like idiots, like wisconsin).
Creighton:
Jesse: I moved away from Nebraska about four years ago, and while I dearly miss home, COVID-19 has magnified the absurdity of the place I came from. Football is relatively meaningless in the grand scheme of things, and when the opportunity to give it a year so that research, testing, and hopefully interventions that would protect those in the game - as well as those around the game - come to light. But no, here we are, and now we see that outbreaks cannot be easily stopped.
Wisconsin has the 3rd highest per capita cases, Nebraska the 10th, and Iowa the 11th. Illinois, Indiana, and Minnesota are in the top half of the problem in the US. That we thought ANY of this was going to work blows my mind and makes me angry. Mostly, and hear me out, because WE LET THE PEOPLE WHO WERE ACTIVELY INCENTIVIZED TO PLAY MAKE DECISIONS.
Which, lastly, doesn’t this at least give the Pac-12 a second of pause? I realize their states are in less complete disarray, but maybe they should just keep that going, huh? Like, is the potential for not making the College Football Playoffs, embarrassment by your top teams, and rises in COVID cases because that will definitely be a thing worth it? The answer should be no, but we all know this will be treated as an isolated thing because everyone is totally following the rules and would never be so stupid as to put others in unnecessary danger (stares into Justin Turner’s soul). Yeah, this is dumb.
Anyhow, as for the game? It does present quite a few interesting problems for tiebreakers as you will see below...
Jesse Collins and Boilerman:
Boilerman: One of my buddies did raise an excellent question (other than the obvious). How does this work for standings?
Jesse: It’s gotta be win percentage, right?
Boilerman: And then win total in the case of two undefeateds?
Jesse: One would assume
Beez: You gotta play at least 6 games to qualify right?
Jesse: https://bigten.org/documents/2020/10/22/2020_Big_Ten_Football_Tiebreakers.pdf
So if I’m reading this, it’s H2H, winning percentage inside the division, winning against the next highest place team, a bunch of random shit, drawing, and yes to the 6 games thing.
Poll
Why is this game REALLY getting cancelled?
This poll is closed
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11%
Paul Chryst is scared of Nebraska!
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17%
5G
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4%
Bill Gates
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12%
Russia
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53%
I have reason to suspect Iowa