One of the most talked-about topics heading in Week 7 of the Big Ten season isn’t No. 10 Indiana’s impressive play, No. 16 Northwestern’s bounce-back season, the state of the Michigan football program or No. 13 Ohio State‘s dominant season, but whether the conference will revisit their six-game requirement for a team to be eligible for the championship game.
This has become a polarizing topic because Ohio State sits at 4-0, has already seen two of their games canceled and is set to face a Michigan team next weekend that is currently dealing with a COVID-19 outbreak. If that game was to be canceled, the current rules would see them miss out on the conference championship and send Indiana in their place.
I’ve written extensively about why the Big Ten should change the rule, specifically why if they don’t change it and the Buckeyes sit undefeated and miss the championship, it will take away the remaining credibility of their season.
Wisconsin Athletic Director Barry Alvarez agrees with my sentiment and went on FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff today to discuss the matter.
"If [Ohio State] has a game canceled, I think we as athletic directors would have to revisit whether they should be involved [in the Big Ten Championship Game]"
Wisconsin AD Barry Alvarez joins #BigNoonKickoff to discuss if the Big Ten will revisit the 6-game minimum. pic.twitter.com/GVr1aRrTDS
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) December 5, 2020
“While we haven’t had that discussion yet,” Alvarez said. “In a year of a pandemic, in the situation we’ve gone through, if in fact we have a team that doesn’t qualify…I think we as athletic directors would have to revisit whether they should be involved if they don’t play six games.”
Alvarez knows firsthand what a COVID-19 outbreak looks like within a program with the Badgers experiencing one earlier this year, and also knows how the cancelation of games is often out of teams’ control.
There still could be a situation where the rule doesn’t come into play, which would be the best-case scenario for everybody involved. But it’s welcoming to hear someone with the power that Alvarez discuss the rule and note that it will need to be revisited if it keeps an undefeated Ohio State out of the title game.
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