The Ohio State Football team huddles up before the start of the Ohio State-Rutgers game on Nov. 7. The Team huddles up and does a chant led by head coach Ryan Day. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
The Big Ten’s return-to-football plan was strict and fleshed out in its handling of testing and safety protocols to ensure a clean playing field, but the plan had one major flaw: a lack of flexibility.
The Big Ten Return to Competition Task Force devised a plan Sept. 16 that included the implementation of daily antigen testing, positivity thresholds and a 21-day inactive period for COVID-19 positive athletes to receive necessary cardiac evaluations. Three days after the return and protocols were announced, the Big Ten’s third rendition of a schedule was released with a plan to play nine games in nine weeks — a plan that was compromised by the second week of the season.
James Borchers, Ohio State Department of Athletics head team physician, said the Big Ten medical subcommittee determined that it would be safe to proceed forward with a season after it had initially been postponed Aug. 11.
“We believe that the safe protocol allows us to complete this season from the standpoint of athletes participating in nine football games,” Borchers said Sept. 16 on Big Ten Network. “Certainly we know that’s a significant number of games, but that’s been done in the past. It’s going to be incumbent upon, obviously, all our institutions, coaches and medical staffs to make certain that set health and safety is at the forefront of what we’re doing.”
After an opening week in which all seven Big Ten games were played, an outbreak on the Wisconsin football team caused its Week 2 game against Nebraska and Week 3 contest against Purdue to be canceled.
Ahead of the fourth weekend of conference play, Ohio State saw its first game canceled after an increase in COVID-19 cases on Maryland’s football team led to the team pausing activities Wednesday.
“I shouldn’t be surprised at anything that happens now. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Ohio State head coach Ryan Day said Thursday. “We understood that coming in, but doesn’t make it any easier to go through this. It’s hard, so knowing it’s not going to be perfect but trying to make it happen is where we’re at.”
No open weeks before the Big Ten Championship game scheduled for Dec. 19 provides no opportunity for the Buckeyes and other Big Ten teams to make up for lost games.
Although the current schedule provides no flexibility, the idea of providing room for error was not a foreign concept to the conference.
An altered schedule was released Aug. 5 by the Big Ten with 10 games being played over 12 weeks, starting Sept. 3. The regular season ended with an additional conference-wide open week to provide opportunity for teams to make up missed games ahead of the Big Ten Championship Dec. 5.
The Big Ten release at the time said the schedule was “structured to maximize flexibility” and would allow for games to be rescheduled for teams’ bye weeks.
It is such flexibility that is absent from the current Big Ten schedule but present elsewhere in the country.
In the Southeastern Conference, four games set for Saturday have been deemed unplayable due to COVID-19 outbreaks on involved teams.
The difference between the SEC and Big Ten’s schedules, however, is that two open weeks in each SEC team’s schedule allows for the opportunity for games to be rescheduled.
On Oct. 17 alone, the SEC moved the dates of five matchups to accommodate for the outbreaks on the Florida and Vanderbilt football teams.
The SEC began play Sept. 26 — four weeks before the Big Ten.
Along with an inability to reschedule, the Big Ten has denied teams from filling a canceled game with a nonconference opponent — a decision which Day disagreed with when Nebraska looked to play Southern Conference member Chattanooga Week 2.
“I know they worked really hard to try and get another game, which I thought they should have had the opportunity to play,” Day said Oct. 29.
In the immediate aftermath of the conference’s return, Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren spoke to the need for fluidity, even if the schedule did not embody any flexibility.
“Even as we go forward and get into the season, we are going to have to remain fluid, we’re going to have to adapt to changes — that’s the world that we’re living in — we’re going to need to remain flexible,” Warren said Sept. 16 on Big Ten Network. “But the biggest thing, we’re going to need to stay collaborative with each other, transparent with each other, and make sure we focus on the future and stay together.”
The Big Ten has made adjustments to its handling of false positive test results on game day — a situation which kept Ohio State graduate linebacker Justin Hilliard out of the Penn State game. Day said the change was a sign of good leadership.
A rule that has remained unchanged so far is the requirement that a team must play at least six games to be eligible for the Big Ten Championship. According to Big Ten rules, if the average number of games played falls below six, a team is eligible if they have played within two games of the average.
“I think as we get closer, if we’re not able to play ‘X’ number of games, then I think at that point we need to maybe revisit it,” Day said. “One of the things I think we’ve done a decent job of is be flexible here. And we have to continually be flexible as things move along and make the right decision — whatever that might be moving forward in any situation.”
Wisconsin has already missed out on the maximum two games while Ohio State, Maryland, Purdue and Nebraska have each missed one.
The College Football Playoff final rankings are set to be announced Dec. 20 and the semifinal games are scheduled to be played Jan. 1.
With the Big Ten schedule concluding a day before the playoff announcement is made, the Big Ten is locked into the current timetable. Big Ten programs’ only option is to do their part to avoid COVID-19 and hope their opponents do the same.
“This is the first time we’ve really been affected by it — by no fault of our own — but this is kinda the way it goes,” Day said. “Just got to continually make sacrifices. We’ve done that, but at any moment it can turn sideways, so we’ve got to stay on it. It’s got to be really, really important and really the No. 1 thing we think about when we wake up in the morning.”
