Rutgers football team is in the middle of a COVID-19 outbreak and it may be linked to a party players attended

• Rutgers football program jumped to 28 positive cases of COVID-19, according to a report from NJ.com.
• Rutgers cases reportedly stemmed from an on-campus party that some players attended.
• in the Big Ten alone, six programs have already had to alter their offseason schedules in response to the virus.

At the end of July, Rutgers football was forced to suspend its voluntary workouts after finding six positive COVID-19 cases.

According to NJ.com, the number of positive cases has now jumped to 28, and the outbreak can be linked back to an on-campus party that some players attended.

Last Wednesday, New Jersey health commissioner Judith Persichilli included Rutgers as one of "several circumstances where indoor and outdoor gatherings in our state have led to community clusters of COVID-19."

While the Rutgers program went into quarantine after its initial outbreak, the team has still had its cases tick upwards since locking down.

Rutgers is far from the only college football program to have been affected by COVID-19. In the Big Ten alone, Ohio State, Maryland, Indiana, Michigan State, and Northwestern have all been forced to alter their offseason schedules at one point or another in response to the virus.

Despite the difficulties the virus has already presented to programs, as well as the challenges that Major League Baseball has seen just two weeks into its season, the power conferences of college football all still seem determined to march forwards towards the start of the season.

On Monday, the Big 12 became the final Power 5 conference to announce its plan for a modified season, with each team playing nine conference games and one non-conference game to complete an abridged schedule.

The first college football games of the year are still scheduled to start as early as August 29, with the majority of teams set to begin in September.

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