The Big Ten conference announced this morning their COVID-19 guidelines for the 2021-22 sports year, but it mainly regards the conference scheduling. Since Notre Dame plays the conference in multiple sports, their decision is one to be watched.
They announced that “if one of its member institutions is unable to play a conference contest due to COVID-19, that contest shall be declared a forfeit and will not be rescheduled.”
This really just impacts the Irish hockey team, at that is the only conference affiliation with the Big Ten. The release fails to mention anything regarding non-conference games so one must assume that they could get rescheduled.
Just in, from the @bigten: pic.twitter.com/fRMSRyrXMN
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) August 23, 2021
Looking at the football schedule the Irish play Purdue and Wisconsin in back-to-back weeks, starting September 18th when the Boilermaker head to South Bend. The Irish have just one open date, on October 16th, and neither team has that date open also.
By putting the schedule and release together, it seems as if either of the games against Big Ten foes isn’t played, the teams won’t be able to find a date to reschedule the game. There is still a small chance this could change, but multiple other factors would have to happen for a chance to have the game happen. Hopefully this won’t matter and the games are played according to the schedule.