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Ohio State’s No.3 game at Illinois on Saturday was called off because the Buckeyes had a spike in COVID-19 cases this week, leaving the Big Ten’s top team on the verge of be ineligible for the conference title.
The cancellation on Friday night came about seven hours after the state of Ohio announced that coach Ryan Day tested positive and would not travel with the team to Champaign, Ill.
The team did not fly to Illinois as planned on Friday evening, so further testing for COVID-19 could be carried out in Columbus, Ohio. The revised plan was to fly on Saturday morning for a noon ET kickoff.
After returning further positive tests, the state of Ohio announced that the game was called. The school did not disclose how many members of the program tested positive, as has been school policy all year.
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The state of Ohio has suspended all activities of the football team.
“We have continued to see an increase in positive tests during this week,” Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith said in a statement. “The health, safety and well-being of our student-athletes is our primary concern, and our decisions regarding their well-being will continue to be guided by our medical staff.
This is the second Big Ten game of the season that Ohio State has canceled. The first came after an epidemic in Maryland forced a postponement earlier this month. Although they have only played four games so far, the Buckeyes (4-0) finished fourth in the first college football playoff standings released earlier this week.
Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields throws a pass against Indiana during the first half of an NCAA college football game on Saturday November 21, 2020 in Columbus, Ohio. (Associated press)
Big Ten rules require teams to play at least six games during that shortened season to be eligible to participate in the conference championship game. The minimum could drop if the average number of games played by all Big Ten teams drops below six. In this case, the minimum number of games required to be eligible for the Championship game would be two less than the average.
Ohio State only has two games left on its regular season schedule: at Michigan State on December 5 and at home against Michigan on December 12. The Big Ten Championship game is on December 19.
The Big Ten started their season on the weekend of Oct. 24 and have no open dates for makeup in their eight-week regular season schedule.
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The Wisconsin number 18 has already lost three games after Minnesota’s cancellation earlier this week due to a COVID-19 outbreak. That will leave the Badgers, the Big Ten West favorites, with just five regular season games at most.
Day is the 19th major college football coach this year to publicly admit having tested positive for the virus, including Nick Saban of Alabama earlier this week.
Also on Friday, the Southeastern Conference announced a series of planning moves to catch up with previously postponed Dec. 5 games, including Alabama at LSU.
The Tide and Tigers was scheduled to play on November 14, but LSU was unable to due to a lack of available players due to COVID-19.
Arkansas at Missouri will also catch up on Dec.5. The Razorbacks were forced to postpone their game with the Tigers this week. Missouri was to play a makeup game with Vanderbilt instead.
Alabama in Arkansas, Mississippi in LSU, and Missouri in Mississippi State have yet to be carried over.
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Alabama in Arkansas could be played on December 12, the week before the SEC Championship game.
LSU already has a game with Florida scheduled for Dec. 12, but he could play Ole Miss on the day of the SEC Championship game, which the conference uses to create regular-season games that don’t involve division winners. .
In college football, 16 of the 58 games originally scheduled for this week have been postponed or canceled, although some substitutes have been added.
Utah will travel to Washington after their scheduled Pac-12 opponents fail to play, and San Diego State will play Colorado in a non-conference game after Southern California fails. could play the Buffaloes.
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