Ohio State just polished off its most complete game of the season, on the road, with most of its starting offensive line and starting middle linebacker out of action, presumably because of coronavirus protocols. Either way you slice it, the Buckeyes were shorthanded and still dominated a Michigan State team that had tons of momentum from knocking Northwestern from the ranks of the unbeaten.
Ohio State might have the best player in college football with Justin Fields running the show, a slew of NFL draft picks on the roster, depth and talent to burn, and sit at 5-0 on the season. One of those wins is over a top-ten caliber Indiana team that just knocked off Wisconsin in Madison, without the Hoosiers’ starting QB even available because of a season-ending injury.
A headscratcher coming from Chicago
Yet somehow, someway, there’s still a chance the Buckeyes don’t even get an opportunity to play in the Big Ten Championship Game because of some shortsighted policy the conference put in place as a part of the return to play plan.
DUB❗️#GoBuckeyes pic.twitter.com/3uwDxSGKQt
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) December 5, 2020
You know the story well at this point. If Michigan can’t get past its own coronavirus outbreak and play The Game against Ohio State Saturday, the Buckeyes will fall one game short of the six-game mandate to be eligible to head to Indy to face Northwestern in the Big Ten Championship Game.
That’s right. Your undefeated East Division winner and No. 4 team in the College Football Playoff Rankings as it stands right now could possibly be sitting at home watching an Indiana team it beat play for the trophy. A trophy the OSU program has won three-straight years.
If that happens, put an asterisk next to whatever happens because one way or another, the championship of the Big Ten is going to be a tainted one that history will view as more mythical than real. The shiny trophy will sit somewhere in Evanston or Bloomington, but it’ll be dulled by some poor decision making by the conference.
What was Ohio State supposed to do?
Ohio State zoom call: OSU team population exceeded 7.5% positive threshold Friday so they paused. AD Gene Smith: "Could we have played? Sure. Would it have been the right thing to play? No." Team will be day-to-day going forward, hoping to play Michigan State next Saturday.
— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) November 28, 2020
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Let’s be clear, it’s not Ohio State’s fault that a worldwide pandemic resulted in Maryland canceling one of those games that couldn’t be played. It’s also not the Buckeyes’ fault that they used extreme caution in canceling a game against Illinois for the health and safety of both teams. The team would most likely be sitting at 6-0 if it forged ahead and played in Champaign under the overall thresholds set up to trigger a cancellation.
It just doesn’t make any sense to penalize a team — your best team — for a virus wreaking havoc on the football season and the very way of life for most of humanity. A team shouldn’t benefit from it, and neither should it be disqualified for things the likes of which has absolutely no control over.
It’s time to do the right thing Big Ten
B1G ADs will likely change B1G title game requirements to allow 5-0 Ohio State in title game if it can’t play 6th league game, sources told @Stadium. But it won’t be an easy decision, source said. A win in B1G title game would all but guarantee Buckeyes a spot in @CFBPlayoff
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) December 5, 2020
The Big Ten needs to go ahead and get in front of this now and make an adjustment to the policy rather than the status quo of remaining eerily silent (that’s a familiar move). Othersie, it’s another reactionary modus operandi based on what occurs on the field of play. There are signs that point to some flexibility with the policy, but here we sit, less than one week from the Big Ten Championship Game and things are still up in the air.
I, like many other, sure hope the Michigan game can be played, and that the Wolverines are healthy and at full strength. But whether that happens or not, there’s no denying the fact that Ohio State belongs in Indianapolis where it has set up shop as the flag-bearer for the Big Ten.
Not because of what’s happened off the field, but on it.
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