COLUMBUS, Ohio — Other conferences have altered their late-season schedules to help set up their best teams for the postseason.
One influential Big Ten athletic director thinks his league should do the same if Ohio State experiences another cancellation.
Wisconsin AD Barry Alvarez, who chaired the Big Ten’s return-to-play committee, told The Detroit News the Big Ten should be flexible to help Ohio State reach the league’s self-imposed six-game minimum to qualify for the championship game.
The Buckeyes have played four games and are scheduled to play at Michigan State on Saturday and against Michigan next week. Michigan, however, is on pause and canceled Saturday’s game with Maryland due to an increase in COVID-19 cases.
Ohio State’s scheduled game at Illinois last Saturday was canceled due to the Buckeyes’ increase in cases. It is evaluating its own situation day-by-day ahead of the trip to East Lansing.
Ohio State has been No. 4 in the College Football Playoff rankings each of the first two weekends. However, selection committee chair and Iowa AD Gary Barta said a lack of games played has been problematic for the committee as it compares Big Ten and Pac-12 teams to those of other conferences who have played two or three times as many games.
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“I would think that if something would happen to Ohio State and they’d have to cancel another game, that that’s something that we’ve got to revisit,” Alvarez said.
Alvarez referred to the Big Ten’s inaugural championship weekend — where all league teams would play crossover games, not just the Big Ten championship — as “sort of a flexible week of scheduling.”
“We may make some adjustments on that last week,” Alvarez said. “But those are things we talk about and certainly you’ve got to consider, or reconsider.”
A known option
The Big Ten already has a mechanism for helping teams avoid a hole in the schedule. If two teams cancel in one week, their opponents can play each other. The teams must mutually agree to play the game. According to a league source, there is an informal noon Wednesday deadline for such decisions, but it is unlikely the league would stand in the way of a decision made later in the week.
For instance, if Minnesota also cannot play again next week due to its ongoing coronavirus outbreak, and Michigan also must cancel, Ohio State and Nebraska could play each other. Those teams played in the season opener, but the Big Ten does not prohibit rematches under its rescheduling options.
Other conferences have been more proactive in streamlining their end-of-season schedule.
The ACC athletic directors recently decided to evaluate their season on a nine-week schedule, rather than the originally scheduled 10. Notre Dame was undefeated and due to the rule change has now locked up an ACC championship game berth regardless of its result against 1-8 Syracuse. Clemson, whose only loss came against the Irish, plays at Virginia Tech.
If the Tigers win, they also advance to the ACC championship game. Both Clemson and Notre Dame are now off on Dec. 12. Other games were moved around to fill in that weekend.
The Big Ten has made no indication that such a restructuring would or could take place. However, as Alvarez noted, it also had not released a championship weekend schedule — dates, times or locations. Some flexibility cannot be ruled out.
It helps Ohio State’s cause that one of the Big Ten’s most influential voices is using it to say the Buckeyes should not be denied a championship opportunity based on a technicality. The question is, how far will the league go to make that happen?
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