Ohio State football made right decision not to play this week

The Ohio State football team won’t be playing a game this weekend after The Game was canceled. They make the Big Ten Championship anyway, so it’s a smart decision for them not to find another opponent.

Ohio State will be taking on Northwestern in next week’s Big Ten Championship. It will be the Buckeyes’ last chance to make an impression with the CFP committee and will only be their sixth game played all season long. That’s because The Game was canceled this weekend.

The Buckeyes did originally try to schedule another opponent to play this week but ended up not finding anyone. Even if they had, it was a smart decision for Ohio State to not play this weekend. It was smart because it gave the Buckeyes one less chance to lose.

It’s extremely unlikely that Ohio State would have lost an extra game anyway, especially if the opponent was Maryland or Purdue or some other Big Ten opponent. Ryan Day’s squad is clearly the most talented team in the conference and would likely have beaten any of those teams.

Upsets do happen though. Just ask the 2018 Buckeyes. It gives the Buckeyes one more week to keep that undefeated record intact. It also keeps the Buckeyes healthy right before fighting for a conference title. Keeping the team injury-free is crucial this time of year.

This extra bye week also gives Ohio State a chance to recover from COVID fully. The Buckeyes would’ve still been without a large number of players this week had they played. Now those players will be able to focus on getting through the protocol and focus on playing Northwestern.

It’s certainly disappointing that we won’t have a rivalry game this week and disappointing that there is no game at all. But if this helps the Buckeyes finish the season undefeated and make the College Football Playoff, it’s the right decision.