Big Ten rejects proposed game between Nebraska and Chattanooga

The Big Ten has shut down a proposal from Nebraska that would have the Cornhuskers play Chattanooga as a replacement game for their canceled matchup against Wisconsin. 

The game between Wisconsin and Nebraska, which was scheduled for Saturday, was canceled Wednesday after the Badgers announced they are shutting down team activities for the next seven days due to multiple players and staff members testing positive for COVID-19. The game will be ruled "no contest" and will not be made up later, given the constraints of the Big Ten's reduced schedule in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Nebraska had reached out to Chattanooga about a possible matchup to make-up for the lost game and Chattanooga had even tested all of its players to confirm no positive COVID tests. But while Dr. Jay Blackman, UTC's senior associate athletics director for strategic communications, said they "were excited" about the idea of the game, the Big Ten nixed any hope of that happening.

"We knew at the beginning of the conversations that it was going to be a long shot," Blackman told ESPN's Mark Schlabach. "We were trying to do things to get ready."

While the news of the rejected proposal may disappoint college football fans, it's not hard to see why the Big Ten did not allow the game to happen. Even with the negative tests, a single new case for Nebraska or Chattanooga could cause a spread that would put the entire conference's season in danger of not being finished at all.