ESPN: Michigan-Ohio State football game called off due to COVID-19 cases with Wolverines

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Taji34

Taji34

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The Michigan-Ohio State game for Saturday has been canceled due to increased COVID-19 cases within the Wolverines' program, the school announced Tuesday.

"The number of positive tests has continued to trend in an upward direction over the last seven days," Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said in a statement. "We have not been cleared to participate in practice at this time. Unfortunately, we will not be able to field a team due to COVID-19 positives and the associated quarantining required of close contact individuals.

"This decision is disappointing for our team and coaches but their health and safety is paramount, and it will always come first in our decision-making."
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www.espn.com

Michigan-Ohio State game called off for Saturday

The Michigan-Ohio State game on Saturday has been canceled because of increased COVID-19 cases within the Wolverines' program, the school announced Tuesday.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
 

Oh my...time to brush up on the B1G wins qualifier.
 


Ryan Day already trying to lobby for the rules to change:

Ohio State football coach Ryan Day says Big Ten should revisit title game eligibility rule

With Saturday's rivalry game against Michigan canceled, Ohio State coach Ryan Day on Tuesday said the Big Ten should revisit its rule requiring teams to play at least six games this season to be eligible for the conference championship game.

Because No. 4 Ohio State (5-0) can't play Michigan because of COVID-19 issues within the Wolverines' program, the Buckeyes won't qualify under the current rule and Indiana would represent the East division against Northwestern at noon ET on Dec. 19.

Sources have told ESPN that Big Ten athletic directors could consider changing the rule at their meeting on Wednesday.
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www.espn.com

OSU coach: Big Ten should revisit 6-game rule

Buckeyes coach Ryan Day says the Big Ten should revisit its rule requiring teams to play at least six games this season to be eligible for the conference championship game.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
 

PMWinSTP said:
Oh my...time to brush up on the B1G wins qualifier.
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I know there was a total games played thing so not sure if that kicked in but if it didn't then I called it weeks ago when I said it would be Northwestern vs. Indiana for the Big Ten title. :)

What a mess, I suppose in theory they have to have some sort of Big Ten champion but at this point it is a really hollow title for whoever ends up getting it.

Ohio State vs. Indiana was essentially the title game for the conference because I don't think there is much doubt that those are the two best overall teams in the conference this season.

I really hope they scrap the final week plan they had laid out and go with some of the rivalry games that got cancelled.

Let Northwestern and Indiana duke it out for the title
Minnesota vs. Wisconsin
Ohio State vs. Michigan

and then fill in the rest from there.
 


Taji34 said:
Ryan Day already trying to lobby for the rules to change:



www.espn.com

OSU coach: Big Ten should revisit 6-game rule

Buckeyes coach Ryan Day says the Big Ten should revisit its rule requiring teams to play at least six games this season to be eligible for the conference championship game.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
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Ohio State being knocked out of the title game due to not playing enough games was probably the one scenario that would make them totally rethink their plans.
 

No way they should change the rules. Teams were starting to get close to that 3 missed games number earlier in the season and no one had an issue with the rule until Ohio State was at risk of missing their 3rd game. I also don't think they deserve to make the CFP no matter what happens on championship weekend. They will have only played 6 games total and only 1 against a ranked team which they only beat by 7.

I can see why they are upset though. They were one of the teams who wanted to go forward with the original 10 game schedule including 3 bye weeks per team. If the conference did that, they'd be able to make up all 3 games and play the full schedule. It's a shame 11 teams prevented that from happening but it happened and the rules were set before the season so they shouldn't change now. If they wanted to make the rules to optimize their chance of getting a team into the CFP, they had their chance back in August.
 

The West finally has a chance to win one of these.
 




I'd have a much bigger problem with changing the title game eligibility requirements if OSU-Indiana were one of the cancelled games instead of a head-to-head win.
 

How does this affect the CFP and Ohio State’s participation?
 

This is bad for the B1G. Luck of a virus should not trump on field performance. tOSU saw this coming and voted to allow Nebraska to play a non-conference game earlier this season. They were outvoted. Now they will need AD's to agree on a plan to move games. Teams are already 3 days into planning for an opponent. No win for anyone and more flexibility should have been built in.

If they don't change the rules this week, there is no chance of MN playing WI next week, or maybe the chances are now greater. What a mess.
 

Even if Ohio state scheduled a non conference opponent...that doesn’t and shouldn’t count as a conference game.

They need a conference opponent.

they’re going to end up playing indiana again when Purdue cancels and I hope Indiana beat them
 



MaxyJR1 said:
This is bad for the B1G. Luck of a virus should not trump on field performance. tOSU saw this coming and voted to allow Nebraska to play a non-conference game earlier this season. They were outvoted. Now they will need AD's to agree on a plan to move games. Teams are already 3 days into planning for an opponent. No win for anyone and more flexibility should have been built in.

If they don't change the rules this week, there is no chance of MN playing WI next week, or maybe the chances are now greater. What a mess.
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Strongly disagree with your last paragraph.
the reason they did East vs west the last week is to avoid rematches. Not to create some new deal. Minnesota and Wisconsin is all but assured:

The only thing I see stopping Mn vs Wisconsin is if Wisconsin beats Iowa and the conference needs them to play Ohio state because Ohio state doesn’t find another game
 

SixBySix said:
I'd have a much bigger problem with changing the title game eligibility requirements if OSU-Indiana were one of the cancelled games instead of a head-to-head win.
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Yeah. Honestly it is a flaw in the rule.
The rule was meant to give the division to a 6-1 Indiana over a 5-0 team they hadn’t played.

What if Minnesota was 6-1 and Nebraska was 5-0 and canceled the game against Minnesota this week? Then Minnesota should go.

they wrote the rule for the scenario I described. Not for what has occurred.

If they did it again they would have some stipulation that if a 2nd place a team has a lower winning percentage and a head to head loss against the first place team...that tiebreaker supersedes the 5 game rule and the 5 game rule no longer applies
 

MNVCGUY said:
I know there was a total games played thing so not sure if that kicked in but if it didn't then I called it weeks ago when I said it would be Northwestern vs. Indiana for the Big Ten title. :)

What a mess, I suppose in theory they have to have some sort of Big Ten champion but at this point it is a really hollow title for whoever ends up getting it.

Ohio State vs. Indiana was essentially the title game for the conference because I don't think there is much doubt that those are the two best overall teams in the conference this season.

I really hope they scrap the final week plan they had laid out and go with some of the rivalry games that got cancelled.

Let Northwestern and Indiana duke it out for the title
Minnesota vs. Wisconsin
Ohio State vs. Michigan

and then fill in the rest from there.
Click to expand...
Yes there is a calculation based on all games played to reset the minimum played to be eligible for championship, I believe.
 

PMWinSTP said:
Yes there is a calculation based on all games played to reset the minimum played to be eligible for championship, I believe.
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The league average had to be 6 or fewer games for it to kick in. It's not close.
 

Just cancel the "championship" and re-schedule week 9:

OSU-NW
Min-Wis

Who cares about the rest.
 

Pretending that a pandemic was not going to disrupt everything in American life except sports threatened the pocket books of ADs around the country, upset players, fans who seemed to have no other lives, and the TV networks.
Magical thinking was not confined to the White House.
If IN wins out and NW wins the West the rules should not be changed to cheat IN and reward tOSU.
If that means tOSU doesn't get to the CFC too bad, how sad.
 



OSU is clearly the best team in the B1G regardless of whether they play in the Championship game. I understand why they WANT to since the perception of winning the conference carries weight, but who doesn't know they're the best team?

So now the issue becomes getting them a "tough" game on crossover weekend to boost their playoff chances. Makes sense to put them against the winner of Iowa - Wisc so they can throttle another team with a decent national reputation and see where the chips fall. I'd bet money they make the playoff, but I guess you never know with sEcSPN
 

What an ugly mess. Wonder if the phone communications are civil at this point? I'm guessing somewhat civil, but very firm in tone.
 

Plato said:
Pretending that a pandemic was not going to disrupt everything in American life except sports threatened the pocket books of ADs around the country, upset players, fans who seemed to have no other lives, and the TV networks.
Magical thinking was not confined to the White House.
If IN wins out and NW wins the West the rules should not be changed to cheat IN and reward tOSU.
If that means tOSU doesn't get to the CFC too bad, how sad.
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Issue is that Northwestern beat the teams behind them and would have the best West win %. tOSU has the best East win % and would be the one's cheated. The rule wasn't thought out very well.
 

MGGopher said:
OSU is clearly the best team in the B1G regardless of whether they play in the Championship game. I understand why they WANT to since the perception of winning the conference carries weight, but who doesn't know they're the best team?

So now the issue becomes getting them a "tough" game on crossover weekend to boost their playoff chances. Makes sense to put them against the winner of Iowa - Wisc so they can throttle another team with a decent national reputation and see where the chips fall. I'd bet money they make the playoff, but I guess you never know with sEcSPN
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Don't give the CFP any wiggle room to deny OSU. Plain and simple
 

There is a chance this can still be settled without needing to change the rules. Purdue cancelled practice today for covid.

If they cancel the Purdue Indiana game, then you cancel Maryland-Rutgers and you schedule:
Ohio State vs Maryland (was cancelled earlier this year)
Indiana vs Rutgers (rematch, but there's nothing else that can be done unless you break up a West match)

or if you're really stupid, you schedule a Ohio State Indiana rematch. They won't, they're not that stupid.
 


MplsGopher said:
There is a chance this can still be settled without needing to change the rules. Purdue cancelled practice today for covid.

If they cancel the Purdue Indiana game, then you cancel Maryland-Rutgers and you schedule:
Ohio State vs Maryland (was cancelled earlier this year)
Indiana vs Rutgers (rematch, but there's nothing else that can be done unless you break up a West match)

or if you're really stupid, you schedule a Ohio State Indiana rematch. They won't, they're not that stupid.
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If OSU and IND games are canceled there should be an OSU/IND rematch. They played already and preparation would be simple. It would boost the winner and all issues would go away.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
If OSU and IND games are canceled there should be an OSU/IND rematch. They played already and preparation would be simple. It would boost the winner and all issues would go away.
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It would setup Indiana to get the upset this time, and put two SEC teams in the CFP to go with Clemson and Notre Dame.

Hard no. You're stupid if you think this is a good idea. I really could not care less about "fair".

I'd rather just let OSU in the championship game at 5-0, over that silliness.
 

The only thing I'm bummed about is that this gives Indiana a very good chance of winning the conference, thus leaving the Gophers alone as the team with the longest Big Ten title drought. ☹️
 

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