Ohio State football: Big Ten is not absolved of their stupidity
By Ryan Stano
Just because Ohio State and the rest of the Big Ten get to play football starting in late October doesn’t absolve the conference of their stupidity to not play football in the first place.
Ohio State will play their first game of the 2020 season on October 24th against Nebraska. That’s because the conference decided last week to reverse its decision and play football this Fall. But the Buckeyes should have been playing earlier. In fact, they should have two games in the books by now.
Just because the Big Ten decided to now give us football doesn’t absolve them of their earlier sins. Not only did the conference cancel the Fall season, but they did so without any specific reasons as to why that decision was arrived at. They have been acting stupid since mid-August.
You may say that the reason the conference didn’t decide to play until now is that they didn’t have access to the rapid testing they have now. That is true and a perfectly valid point. If the Big Ten didn’t want to play football originally because they didn’t have access to safe, rapid testing, that is completely fine with me.
The problem is, the conference never said that. They never communicated to the public why they weren’t playing. People were angrier about the conference not giving a reason for canceling than the canceling of the season itself.
If the Big Ten were smarter, Ohio State could have won their first two games by now. The conference could have started play, and then gotten access to the rapid testing early in the season. Other universities have been doing it, so it can’t be any less safe.
Just because the Buckeyes now have a shot at a national championship shouldn’t make you lose sight of the fact that the Big Ten still has major leadership issues at the top. Their failure of leadership will still go down as one of the worst examples of leadership in sports history.
Next. Three best individual seasons in Ohio State football history. dark
It would have been criminal to keep these kids away from their dream this season. The public is why that won’t be the case this season, but because the Big Ten got smart.