lsu

*grimace emoji.* Wisconsin is already down Jack Coan. Now uh

Two sources told the Journal Sentinel on Sunday that Mertz, who was brilliant in his starting debut last week, had tested positive for the coronavirus. One source said the positive test came on Saturday.

“I will not and cannot and should not comment on anything dealing with our testing and coronavirus," Chryst said. "We're following the guidelines set in place by the Big Ten."

After Chryst spoke to reporters, a source told the Journal Sentinel that redshirt sophomore Chase Wolf, who is expected to start if Mertz is not available, was not at practice Monday. According to a second source, Wolf has also tested positive for the coronavirus.

If your eyes have rolled back in your head so hard they came out the other side you are not alone. There is no reason to conceal testing results in your own program other than the usual bush league psych-out stuff college coaches engage in incessantly.

Mertz's test has been confirmed. He is out 21 days. Wolf's is likely to be confirmed shortly. That should put both out for the Michigan game. Also: Mertz presumably tested positive after the game, so he played while contagious. Both Wisconsin and Illinois may be on the verge of an outbreak.

Wisconsin has one quarterback left: redshirt junior Danny Vanden Boom. Let's find out more about him.

are you really asking because i don't know

Hmm. Not promising. Vanden Boom was barely ranked inside the top 2000 as a recruit. Also on the docket:

If UW is down to Vanden Boom as the only healthy quarterback for the Nebraska game, it is possible tailback Garrett Groshek could become a bigger factor in the offense.

Groshek, a fifth-year senior, was a dual-threat quarterback at Amherst High School but hasn't played quarterback at UW.

Pandemic football is not good but it is fascinating.

Also in injury news, Penn State RB Noah Cain is out for the season. They're already down Journey Brown and will now turn to sophomore Devyn Ford, who was a top 100 guy in 2019.

[After THE JUMP: things more unexpected than pandemic havoc]

One back, one maybe. Kwity Paye will play for Michigan this fall:

That was the response offered to me last night by a team source in response to whether Kwity Paye would participate during the newly announced season. The senior defensive end has reportedly informed the program of his intention to stay and play.

Unlike the other departures, Paye kept practicing with the team.

The maybe is Jalen Mayfield. Getting him back would be quite the turnaround. Yesterday:

Brian Mayfield, Jalen Mayfield's father, says his son will not re-consider decision to go pro. “He’s not playing. Not for eight games. And there’s no guarantee they’re making it through.”

— Orion Sang (@orion_sang) September 16, 2020

Today Sam Webb reports that it's not a done deal, in part because Mayfield's family is "actively pushing" for him to return. Anyone other than Sam and I'm dismissing that report out of hand, but it is Sam, so… yeah. I'm saying there's a chance. I'd still put that chance in the low to very low zone.

[After THE JUMP: LSU put it in the gumbo]

You're gonna stay for the fourth quarter of our game against Chattanooga. This is actually not as bad as it sounds at first blush:

Saban, the Alabama football coach, has long been peeved that the student section at Bryant-Denny Stadium empties early. So this season, the university is rewarding students who attend games — and stay until the fourth quarter — with an alluring prize: improved access to tickets to the SEC championship game and to the College Football Playoff semifinals and championship game, which Alabama is trying to reach for the fifth consecutive season.

But to do this, Alabama is taking an extraordinary, Orwellian step: using location-tracking technology from students’ phones to see who skips out and who stays.

This doesn't impact anyone's ability to get student tickets for the regular season, it just sets up some bonus goals for diehards who want post-season tickets and opt-in to this program. Now, a bunch of people have pointed out the obvious flaw in which people just leave their phones with freshman pledges or whoever, but at least the idea is to prioritize attendance and dedication.

Michigan does nothing along these lines and really dumped on the idea of dedication mattering when they re-seated Crisler the instant the program got good. Michigan should have programs that reward attendance—not necessarily for students who leave early, but for people who buy tickets and don't use them.

Michigan has the power to change their relationship with ticket-holders by 1) allowing people to return tickets to the AD and 2) downgrading Victors Club points for people whose tickets don't scan. The AD can then try to sell those tickets with some sort of rush program. This would be particularly good for Crisler, which often has big swathes of empty seats even for reasonably important games.

The AD continues to focus exclusively on a bottom line that is mostly about how much money they can funnel to the water polo coach and platinum-plate their silver-plated facilities while ignoring the idea that a full, raucous stadium will probably do more for Michigan's wins and losses than the next increment of opulence.

[After THE JUMP: stay tuned for quality Illinois content! Seriously!]