Ohio State football: Big Ten considering shutting down Fall sports
By Charles Post
The Mid-American Conference announced their plan to cancel all fall sports, including football, on Saturday, August 8. A day later, it seems like Ohio State and the Big Ten might be headed in the same direction.
According to Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk, the “Big Ten could be the next conference to cancel football.”
All 14 Big Ten presidents met yesterday and were considering multiple options, including following the MAC’s decision and canceling all fall sports for the upcoming 2020-21 season. If that scenario becomes reality, it’s believed that the Big Ten will try to push for a spring football season but that seems unlikely.
Big 10 source: “There’s no path forward that medically is safe. Hope we can all realize this as the season should have been called a month ago. No decisions today.”
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) August 9, 2020
For now, the Big Ten campaign is set to begin on Thursday, September 3 and each team is scheduled to play a 10-game conference-only schedule. Ohio State’s home opener is expected to take place on Saturday, September 12 versus Rutgers if the season goes as planned. We should know more within the coming days.
As news continued to come out about a possible season cancellation nation-wide, many college football players took to social media to push for a season being played with the hashtag #WeWantToPlay. Some of the notable players to do so are Buckeyes quarterback Justin Fields, Trevor Lawrence (Clemson), and Sam Howell (North Carolina), as well as others.
There’s been too much work put in!! #WeWantToPlay
— Justin Fields (@justnfields) August 10, 2020
According to ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg, the large majority of Big Ten presidents would likely vote to postpone the season. He also explained that the Power Five commissioners held a meeting today to discuss football and the fall sports season. As it stands, 13 out of 14 Big Ten universities will have students on-campus in the fall.
dark. Next. Ryan Day has built a recruiting fence around Ohio
If the season does start, Ohio State will face Illinois on the road on Thursday, September 3 before taking on Rutgers at Ohio Stadium the following weekend. The rest of the Buckeyes’ schedule includes matchups against Purdue, Indiana (September 26), Nebraska, Michigan State, Michigan (October 24), Maryland, Penn State (November 7), and Iowa.