Ohio State Football: How viable is November start for Big Ten season

However, major issues begin to form when considering potential venue conflicts, the fact that Ohio State wouldn’t even compete for a national title in a season they would have been one of the favorites to win, and the difficulty of whether to play through the holiday weekends or take a break.

The idea of having Big Ten football played this fall is encouraging, but the only reasonable way for this to work is for the leadership in the Big Ten to listen to the players, parents, and coaches and play football at a normal time.

As long as the necessary health protocols are followed, the early feedback from Saturday’s Austin Peay-Central Arkansas match-up seems to suggest that football can still happen.

The best course of action from my viewpoint looks like this: keep practicing as normal, establish a “bubble” for games to be played in at the four locations mentioned earlier (scrap Syracuse), have the players take online-only classes (a small price to play, plus many already are) and limit travel to the practice field and game day location.

By uniting to put a plan like that into action, the Big Ten can regain its disgraced support base (players, parents, and fans) and Ohio State football will be back this fall. But going with the November plan would be foolish and purely exhibition games for a half-genuine Big Ten title.