According to reporting from Dave Biddle of Bucknuts, the Ohio State game against Illinois is in jeopardy because of some positive coronavirus cases the Buckeye football team is dealing with. However, according to Letterman Row, the Woody Hayes Athletic Center was still open Wednesday night and, as of now, the game is still on.
According to another report from Eleven Warriors, the team is dealing with positive results in the single digits with a spokesman for the program having “no news to share.” According to a source though, the team changed a regularly scheduled practice to a walkthrough because of the news.
The fact that the team changed to a walkthrough as opposed to full out practice appears to be a result of what can only be determined at this time as a mild outbreak within the program.
Ohio State has already had one game canceled because of an outbreak within the Maryland program a couple of weeks ago. The team has so far played four games with three scheduled. According to Big Ten policy, a team must have played in six games to be eligible for the Big Ten Championship Game, so any further loss of games would put a season on life support for Ohio State unless that policy changes, or unless the average number of games played per team drops below six.
Wisconsin is already staring that fact straight in the face with another cancelation (this time Minnesota) because of the virus. The Badgers dealt with an outbreak earlier this year that resulted in two games canceled already. The most Wisconsin can play is now five regular-season contests.
So, at this point, the game is still on, but we’ll stay close to this news because, as we’ve seen, a pocket of positive test results is often the beginning of a larger problem. We’re not saying that’s the case here, but proceeding with caution clearly the modus operandi at this point.
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