The Iowa football team resumed in-person activities and held practice on Saturday morning. The team’s in-person activities had been on pause since Monday after a COVID-19 outbreak within the program.

Iowa’s return to the practice field is a positive step in ensuring that its Dec. 30 matchup with Missouri in the Music City Bowl is still on track.

Head coach Kirk Ferentz tested positive for COVID-19 on Dec. 17. The Des Moines Register reported that six members of Iowa’s coaching staff, as well as several other players and staff members, also tested positive for COVID-19. Coaches, players, and other staff members within the program are tested for COVID-19 daily under Big Ten protocols.

For Iowa to be back on the field Saturday morning, based on the Big Ten’s testing protocols, it would have had a seven-day rolling average of positive tests under five percent. Iowa has not released how many players are still away from the team because of a positive test or contact tracing purposes.

In photos released on Iowa’s social media accounts, Ferentz was shown back at the team’s in-person practice on Saturday.

Iowa is 6-2 this season and has won six games in a row after an 0-2 start. The team has not played since Dec. 12 after its Champions Week matchup with Michigan was canceled because of a COVID-19 outbreak within the Wolverine program. Iowa hadn’t practiced since Dec. 15, the day the Michigan game was canceled. Players were given the rest of the week off after the cancellation, then returned Monday only to have activities paused.

In a news release on Monday, Ferentz said he met with the team’s leadership group, and the consensus was that the team still wanted to participate in the bowl game despite the time the team would miss with activities being paused.