Bad news for Ohio State fans. The planned Big Ten football season is over before it started.
According to a report in the Detroit Free Press, the Big Ten Conference voted 10 to 2 to cancel the football season. The paper said the Big Ten will make the official announcement on Tuesday. The cancellation is aimed to stop the spread of Coronavirus. The decision is not sitting well with some players.
Last week, the Big Ten released a complete 10-game schedule. The schedule had teams playing only within the conferences. In fact, the season would have started earlier than normal. Under the revised schedule, Ohio State would have played Michigan on October 24, about a month ahead of their normal post-Thanksgiving date. The MAC canceled its football season over the weekend.
Many are angrily protesting the decision on social media using the hashtag ##iwantaseason
I Want A Season
Ohio State player Xavier Johnson tweeted, “So we as 18-23 year old men are able to make potentially life-altering decisions such as joining the army, buying a gun, or the joint decision of whether or not we want to keep a child, but we are told whether or not we can play the game we love?
Ohio State running back Master Teague III agreed, “If people went through the hours on hours of physical, mental, and consistent hard work that us athletes go through you’d want to have a season. Let’s have a season.”
The schedule announced last week by the Big Ten consisted of the following match-ups.
Week 1 (Sept. 5)
Ohio State at Illinois (Thursday, Sept. 3)
Indiana at Wisconsin (Friday, Sept. 4)
Maryland at Iowa
Minnesota at Michigan State
Nebraska at Rutgers
Northwestern at Penn State
Purdue at Michigan
Week 2 (Sept. 12)
Illinois at Nebraska
Iowa at Purdue
Michigan at Minnesota
Wisconsin at Northwestern
Penn State at Indiana
Michigan State at Maryland
Rutgers at Ohio State
Week 3 (Sept. 19)
Illinois at Indiana
Iowa at Minnesota
Wisconsin at Nebraska
Northwestern at Michigan State
Ohio State at Purdue
Rutgers at Maryland
Penn State at Michigan
Week 4 (Sept. 26)
Purdue at Illinois
Nebraska at Iowa
Minnesota at Wisconsin
Maryland at Northwestern
Indiana at Ohio State
Michigan at Rutgers
Michigan State at Penn State
Week 5 (Oct. 3)
Northwestern at Iowa
Minnesota at Nebraska
Wisconsin at Maryland
Michigan State at Michigan
Penn State at Rutgers
Byes: Illinois, Purdue, Indiana, OSU
Week 6 (Oct. 10)
Iowa at Illinois
Indiana at Minnesota
Nebraska at Ohio State
Purdue at Wisconsin
Week 7 (Oct. 17)
Illinois at Northwestern
Rutgers at Purdue
Michigan at Indiana
Maryland at Penn State
Ohio State at Michigan State
Byes: Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin
Week 8 (Oct. 24)
Illinois at Wisconsin
Iowa at Penn State
Purdue at Minnesota
Nebraska at Northwestern
Maryland at Indiana
Michigan at Ohio State
Rutgers at Michigan State
Week 9 (Oct. 31)
Minnesota at Illinois
Michigan State at Iowa
Penn State ate Nebraska
Northwestern at Purdue
Wisconsin at Michigan
Indiana at Rutgers
OSU at Maryland
Week 10 (Nov. 7)
Illinois at Rutgers
Indiana at Michigan State
Maryland at Michigan
Ohio State at Penn State
Byes: Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Purdue, Wisconsin
Week 11 (Nov. 14)
Wisconsin at Iowa
Northwestern at Minnesota
Nebraska at Purdue
Byes: Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, OSU, Penn State, Rutgers
Week 12 (Nov. 21)
Penn State at Illinois
Iowa at OSU
Minnesota at Maryland
Michigan State at Nebraska
Michigan at Northwestern
Purdue at Indiana
Rutgers at Wisconsin
The Big Ten Championship Game was scheduled for the week of December 5
