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The storyline all season has been the fact that we didn’t know if we would even have football coming into the fall. We did – through canceled games, altered schedules and no fans. The Buckeyes and many other top contenders have finally made it to the conference championships with playoff hopes on the line.
The Big Ten’s front office has handled the season poorly from the start. Once they caved and decided to play, they still made restrictions and requirements that made no sense. Somehow leaving no room to reschedule games was acceptable.
Also, the requirement for at least six games played to qualify for the Big Ten Championship was created. This was meant to punish teams that struggled with containing the virus and had to cancel. Although that was the intent, the conference leadership forgot how much it would affect the teams without issues and punish them.
Ohio State ended up being the team affected by this rule due to three cancellations. Two were the results of Maryland and Michigan cancelling. Only one was because of the Buckeyes and that game was versus Illinois. Per the six-game rule and the 5-0 record, the undefeated Buckeyes were not going to make the championship game. Instead the Indiana Hoosiers at 6-1 would be facing the Northwestern Wildcats this weekend.
That would be okay if it weren’t for the fact that OSU and Indiana already played head-to-head. The Buckeyes dominated the Hoosiers in the first half then stepped off the gas, allowing for Indiana to come back. The Buckeyes still won the game 42-35 which puts aside any doubt as to who the best team is in the Big Ten East.
The Big Ten then did the right thing and changed the rule to fix the issue, placing the Buckeyes in the game and granting an opportunity to boost their resume prior to the final playoff selection.
Much of the outside world hated the decision due to the simple fact it is Ohio State. When you are a top powerhouse, like OSU, Clemson and Alabama, there will always be dislike when anything goes their way.
The noise won’t be heard by the coaches and players on Saturday though because the Buckeyes will be fully dialed in on the task at hand. That needs to be the case because Pat Fitzgerald’s group is physical and tough.
