And they all rejoiced.
After almost six weeks of criticism, lawsuits, more letters than a Santa Claus mailbox on Christmas Eve, protests, and everything but locusts surrounding the offices of the Big Ten Conference, football is back on the docket for this fall. And, by extension, it also means Ohio State football is back in the fray.
The 14 presidents and chancellors of the conference met on Sunday after being briefed on new game-changing medical testing and tracing protocols available since the August 11 decision to postpone the season. A re-vote was then cast sometime during the last day or so (somewhat secretively and feet-draggingly) to bring some scarlet and gray, dare I say it maize and blue, and a whole host of other color palates back to college campuses in the Midwest.
There are still details to work out, but the date for the start of the season is Oct. 24 with an eight-game schedule within (flipping through the calendar) an eight-week period. The Big Ten Championship Game will take place on Dec. 19, just one day ahead of the College Football Playoff’s final rankings release.
That timing should allow the Buckeyes and their Big Ten brethren enough games and timing to compete in the framework of the CFP. How teams will be measured with a varying amount of games to look at is still unclear though.
Let’s goooooo!!! https://t.co/9OVkhXXkWg
— Justin Fields (@justnfields) September 16, 2020
We’ll have more on this later, but after what we’ve seen with the conference digging its heels in, and so much drama surrounding nearly every angle of this decision-making process that won’t soon be forgotten, it’s amazing that things ended up where we are today.
So, stop the fall planning Buckeye fans, Big Ten football is on the way to rescuing a rather open and depressing calendar.
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