Now that Purdue’s game at Wisconsin officially is cancelled, it’s time to pose the question: What’s it mean for the Boilermakers?
Like everything in life, there are positive and negative implications. First, know this: The game is deemed a “no contest” and won’t be re-scheduled.
If you’re Purdue, it’s always good not to have to play Wisconsin. The program has been the lynchpin of the Big Ten West since the formation of the division in 2014. How dominant? The Badgers have represented the West in four of its six seasons in existence. (They won the Leaders Division in two of its three seasons of existence.) Add it up: That's six Big Ten title game appearances, more than any other league team.
In 2020, most pundits had Wisconsin as the favorite to win the West, again. And the Badgers looked the part of the team-to-beat in a season-opening 45-7 demolition of Illinois on Oct. 23 in Madison. That night, redshirt freshman signal-caller Graham Mertz showed why he was a blue-chipper when he completed 21-of-22 passes for 248 yards and five TDs.
But this may have been a good time to get a crack at Wisconsin, a program that has beaten Purdue 14 times in a row dating to a Boilermaker victory in Madison in 2003. This would have been a depleted Badger squad—much like the Illinois team was last week vs. Purdue.
Reports indicated Wisconsin likely would have had to play the Boilermakers with its fourth-string quarterback: junior Danny Vanden Boom, who has thrown one pass in his career.
No. 1 Badger signal-caller Jack Coan already was out with a foot injury. And it has been speculated that Mertz and No. 3 quarterback Chase Wolf have tested positive and would be out, too. The Big Ten’s rules state that a player who tests positive must sit out a minimum of 21 days from the date of the first positive test.
Purdue would have been coming to Camp Randall Stadium with some mojo, having opened the season with a 24-20 win vs. Iowa and a 31-24 victory at Illinois. It is the fist time the Boilermakers opened 2-0 since a 5-0 start in 2007. Jeff Brohm has to hope this unscheduled pit stop doesn't slow his team's roll.
A win for Purdue in Madison would have set the Boilermakers up as a likely favorite to win the West. Purdue could have been 3-0 with Northwestern coming to Ross-Ade Stadium on Nov. 14 for a prime-time game on BTN. The Wildcats could have been sporting a 3-0 mark, too, that night. The winner would have been the clear front-runner to win the West.
The Purdue-Northwestern game still looms very large for the Boilers, no matter the outcome of this Saturday’s Nebraska at Northwestern game. For Purdue, the unscheduled off-week will allow some of its injured players to heal-up. Perhaps the Boilermakers will have wideout Rondale Moore, defensive end George Karlaftis, running back King Doerue and left guard Cam Craig back in time for Northwestern's visit.
If Purdue beats the Wildcats on Nov. 14, it will be 3-0 and the division leader with games left:
at Minnesota
vs. Rutgers
vs. Nebraska
at Indiana
In addition to Saturday’s visit from Nebraska and the trip to Purdue, Northwestern’s schedule includes:
Wisconsin
at Michigan State
at Minnesota
Illinois
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For Wisconsin, that is its second “no contest.” The Badgers had to scrub their game at Nebraska last week due to a COVID-19 outbreak that has seen head coach Paul Chryst test positive. That leaves Wisconsin with just five scheduled games.
The conference said last week that teams must play a minimum of six games of an eight-game-plus-one schedule to be considered eligible for the league title game. That means Wisconsin now can't afford to miss another game if it wants to qualify for the Big Ten title game.
The other option for Wisconsin to qualify is if the average number of conference games for the other 13 teams falls below six, with the average rounded up or down to .50. Then teams must play no fewer than two conference games below the average. To this point, the only two Big Ten games canceled this season have been due to Wisconsin's coronavirus outbreak.
Division standings will be decided via winning percentage, meaning a team that is 7-1 at the end of its eight-game regular-season schedule will have the edge over a 6-1 team that was unable to play a game.
Wisconsin has some heavy-lifting left on its schedule—assuming it is able to get back to action Nov. 14. The Badgers' remaining games:
At Michigan
At Northwestern
Minnesota
Indiana
At Iowa
Bottom line: Stay tuned. Plenty of twists and turns figure to be lurking between now and Big Ten championship weekend on Dec. 19. But for now, Purdue appears to be in a good spot to make a run at its first Big Ten West title.
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