Tag: Big Ten

Report: Big Ten votes to have conference-only fall schedule

The Big Ten has voted to go to a conference only schedule for all sports this fall.

Major news developing today as the Big Ten has voted to go to a conference-only schedule this fall, including football.

It was reported on Wednesday that the conference would go to a vote but a decision was not expected within 8-10 days.

This will ultimately have an effect on many teams in other conferences as they scheduled had non-conference games scheduled with the 14 members.

The SEC, which has discussed a conference-only schedule in the past, has not yet made a statement.

Report: Big Ten to announce conference-only football schedule

The Big Ten will play only conference games per a report Thursday.

The Ivy League canceled its football season Wednesday. Now, comes a report Thursday, the Big Ten will restrict its season to conference games.

Nicole Auerback of The Athletic tweeted the following news:

Should this come to pass, here are some of the premier matchups that would be off in 2020: Minnesota-BYU, Wisconsin-Notre Dame (at Lambeau Field), Maryland-West Virginia, Michigan-Washington, Michigan State-BYU, Michigan State-Miami (Fl), Ohio State-Oregon, and Penn State-Virginia Tech.

The news had been speculated a day earlier. It would leave schools with a 10-game conference slate.

Unfortunately for Michigan, it means the Wolverines would still play Ohio State, which has beaten them eight times in a row.

 

Locked On Badgers Podcast: Predicting every game in a 2020 Big Ten-SEC challenge

Asher is joined by Ben Stevens to predict a Big Ten-SEC football challenge

The Locked On Badgers Podcast is a short-form Wisconsin Badgers podcast hosted by BadgersWire Site Editor Asher Low. Asher covers everything you need to know about Wisconsin football and Wisconsin basketball. In this special crossover episode, Asher is joined by Locked On Big Ten host Ben Stevens to discuss an imaginary Big Ten-SEC challenge.

You can listen to Locked On Badgers wherever you get your podcasts.

Wisconsin Athletics announces their latest COVID-19 testing results

In a release yesterday Wisconsin Athletics shared that of the 428 athletes tested for COVID-19 seven have come back positive…

In a release yesterday Wisconsin Athletics shared that of the 428 athletes tested for COVID-19 seven have come back positive.

This after, as seen above, two of the first 117 tests came back positive.

With COVID-19 spiking up again across the country, there have been programs including Ohio State to suspend their voluntary workouts and even the Ivy League, an entire conference, cancelling their fall athletic season.

Will the schedule be only in-conference? Will games be decided by key players missing time after testing positive?

These are some of the questions that will become clear in the coming weeks as teams get further and further into their preseason preparations.

Ohio State suspends voluntary workouts after COVID-19 testing

News broke yesterday that Ohio State is the first Big Ten team to suspend their voluntary team workouts after multiple players tested…

News broke yesterday that Ohio State is the first Big Ten team to suspend their voluntary team workouts after multiple players tested positive for COVID-19.

The program did not share the specific testing results but it’s likely the number was high enough to warrant shutting down the workouts for (at least) the week.

From the university:

“If a student-athlete tests positive for COVID-19, he/she will self-isolate for at least 14 days and receive daily check-ups from the Department of Athletics medical staff. Student-athletes living alone will isolate in their residence. If they have roommates, they will self-isolate in a designated room on campus.”

This news comes on the heels of the Ivy League cancelling all of their fall sports and other programs including Marquette cancelling their football season.

A lot is still up in the air, obviously, about whether there will be a season and if there is what that season will look like.

The Badgers’ game against Northwestern at Wrigley Field has already been moved and their matchup against Notre Dame at Lambeau Field could be next, that if the Big Ten doesn’t opt for an only in-conference schedule.

The picture will become clear in the coming weeks but one thing that is already apparent: this season, if it happens, will be like none we have ever seen before.

How would B1G going to a conference only schedule in ’20 effect Notre Dame?

Would there be a domino effect if the Big Ten decided to only play conference games in 2020?

There are rumors that the Big Ten could potentially cut out all of their out of conference games this season and play a 10-game conference schedule. Obviously this effects the Irish, as they are schedule to play Wisconsin in Lambeau Field, their only Big Ten opponent this year.

Yes, this is just a rumor at the current moment but with Ohio State being the first Big Ten school to suspend voluntary team activities after teams like North Carolina, Boise State and Kansas have done the same. The Buckeyes were one of the few schools that didn’t disclose their testing results, but it must be concerning if they opted to shut things down for at least a week.

If the Big Ten were to just go to a conference only schedule, the Irish would not face the Badgers this year, who knows if the game would be rescheduled in the future. It would be just one game, but the bigger issue would be if other conferences followed the Big Ten.

With no conference affiliation in football for the Irish, they could be put in a very awkward situation. Would Notre Dame join a conference for a season, and if so who would they join? The ACC seems like the most logical destination, but the hypothetical addition of the Irish would put the conference at 15 teams. Would the Atlantic and Coastal divisions be absolved for the year?

There would be so many questions going forward. It would make sense for the Irish to join the ACC for the season, getting a taste of conference football. Everything would go back to normal in 2021 hopefully, but regardless of what happens, the entire year of 2020 will always have an asterisk next to it.

Report: Big Ten to likely play 10-game, conference-only schedule

This would have a huge effect on the 2020 college football season.

This could be major news for the college football world.

Per Inside NU, the Big Ten is set to vote on playing a 10-game, conference-only schedule with a decision coming in 8-10 days.

This could set off a domino effect where each conference does the same. The SEC and commissioner Greg Sankey has already said that this option has been discussed by the conference.

Wisconsin in the nation’s top-25 jobs according to a recent ranking

247Sports ranked the top-25 jobs in college football yesterday and had the Wisconsin job–obviously currently held by Paul Chryst–at…

247Sports ranked the top-25 jobs in college football yesterday and had the Wisconsin job–obviously currently held by Paul Chryst–at No. 19.

Big Ten jobs ranked ahead of Wisconsin include Michigan at No. 16, Penn State at No. 12 and Ohio State at No. 3.

Chryst’s current home was also, somehow, ranked behind schools including Miami at No. 14 and Florida State at No. 11–both schools that haven’t been nationally relevant in years and don’t appear to have anything close to a shot at beating Clemson and winning the ACC.

Maybe the narrative around Wisconsin will soon change with the school set to bring in the current No. 14-ranked 2021 recruiting class and add the group to an already-impressive roster.

But if Chryst has done anything in his time at Wisconsin it’s win (a lot) without getting enough national praise. Has a conference championship eluded the program since 2011? Yes.

But looking into the future I don’t think I could find 15 jobs across the college football landscape better than Wisconsin.

The Badgers win the West Division in 247Sports’ Big Ten preseason poll

The writers at 247Sports predicted the entire Big Ten football season yesterday including standings, champion, coach of the year, game of…

The writers at 247Sports predicted the entire Big Ten football season yesterday including standings, champion, coach of the year, game of the year and storylines to watch and had the Badgers winning the West Division and playing Ohio State in the conference championship for the third time in the last four years.

The writers had Paul Chryst’s team winning the division over Minnesota in second place, Iowa in third and then a big gap before Nebraska, Purdue, Northwestern and Illinois.

Their championship prediction? A unanimous selection of Ohio State over Wisconsin yet again.

And if the Ohio State love wasn’t apparent already, they had Badger coach Paul Chryst at No. 2 in the end-of-season Coach of the Year rankings behind Ryan Day of Ohio State.

The Badgers also appeared in some of their big storylines to watch this season–those being the parity in the West Division (or lack thereof) and whether the Badgers will finally release their grasp of the division to Minnesota after the two teams battled for the division crown late last season.

Despite the (understandable) Buckeye love, 247Sports’ preseason poll sees the Badgers favorably even with many of their key contributors from 2019 gone to the NFL or graduation. If you ask me, given the turnover at key positions and the Buckeyes’ annual spot in the nation’s top-5 teams, this outcome would be a successful one for the Badgers.

A Big Ten Championship is obviously the goal, but winning the West Division and beating Notre Dame and Minnesota would be a favorable outcome even if Justin Fields and the Buckeyes win the conference for the fourth year in a row.

247Sports simulates the Badgers’ October 10 matchup against Minnesota

247Sports recently simulated the “20 best games of the 2020 season” and No. 11 was October 10’s rivalry matchup between Minnesota and…

247Sports recently simulated the “20 best games of the 2020 season” and No. 11 was October 10’s rivalry matchup between Minnesota and Wisconsin.

To ease the pain of the result, the Golden Gophers came out on top 28-21 thanks to a last minute touchdown pass from Tanner Morgan to Rashod Bateman.

The fact that this is an NCAA 14 simulation aside, the matchup between these two teams will go a long way in dictating the narrative around each team’s season. The winner? Most likely on the way to winning the Big Ten West and playing in the Big Ten Championship game.

Oh, and the axe is on the line.

The Badgers’ victory in last season’s meeting between these two teams pushed the all-time series to 61-60-8 in favor of Wisconsin. Winners of 15 of the last 16 contests, Paul Chryst’s team will need to fight the demons of this simulated loss and come out on top on the real gridiron against the Golden Gophers if they want any shot at avenging last season’s loss in the conference championship game.