Ohio State-Illinois canceled as Day, other Buckeyes' COVID cases climb

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio State canceled its Saturday matchup at Illinois late Friday evening after the team discovered new positive COVID-19 cases, and have paused all team-related activities indefinitely, the school announced.

Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith, university president Kristina M. Johnson and head team physician Dr. Jim Borchers made the decisions to cancel the Illinois game and pause activities in consultation with the Big Ten Conference.

The game was called off just hours after it was revealed that Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day had tested positive for COVID-19 and was in isolation. Day would not have traveled with his team to Champaign, relegating head coaching duties to defensive line/associate head coach Larry Johnson.

The program will resume its team activities when its medical staff determines it is safe to do so based on protocols established by the Big Ten conference.

Ohio State (4-0) will now miss its second game of the season, after having their road trip to Maryland canceled just two weeks prior. The Buckeyes' next scheduled game will be Dec. 5 at Michigan State, followed by the regular-season finale on Dec. 12 against Michigan in Columbus.

The Buckeyes will have to participate in - and win - both games to be eligible for the Big Ten Championship on Dec. 19.

 

If the average number of Big Ten games falls below six, teams must play no less than two fewer conference games than the average number of Big Ten games played by all teams to be considered for the league championship. The champion will be determined in each division by its winning percentage unless there is an unbalanced schedule because of the cancellation of games.

The College Football Playoff has not yet set a threshold for a minimum number of games that teams must play in order to qualify for a semifinal spot. If Ohio State or any contender is not able to play in its conference championship game because of cancellations, that doesn't mean it would be eliminated from the Playoff discussion; however, it wouldn't have the conference title as one of the tiebreakers the CFP committee uses when teams are comparable.