Report: Big Ten Athletic Directors Will Likely Change Requirements For Conference Championship Game

The change could allow Ohio State to qualify with only five potential games played.

The spread of COVID-19 has caused cancellations and postponements of many games across the college football landscape during the 2020 season, and the concerns raised for the Big Ten Championship Game have seemingly forced the hands of athletic directors around the conference.

With virus outbreaks and game cancellations across the Big Ten, teams that haven’t had COVID issues in their locker rooms are few and far between. In the framework of the 2020 Big Ten schedule, teams that have been able to play the majority of their games with no COVID concerns are still walking the line of a six-game requirement for eligibility in the Big Ten Championship due to flare-ups in opposing locker rooms.

Following Ohio State’s dominant 52-12 victory over Michigan State, Brett McMurphy of Stadium tweeted that Big Ten athletic directors are likely to change the requirements needed for a team to be eligible to play in the Big Ten Championship Game:

B1G ADs will likely change B1G title game requirements to allow 5-0 Ohio State in title game if it can’t play 6th league game, sources told @Stadium. But it won’t be an easy decision, source said. A win in B1G title game would all but guarantee Buckeyes a spot in @CFBPlayoff

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) December 5, 2020

Under the current restrictions provided by the Big Ten, Ohio State would be ineligible to play in the conference championship if their upcoming contest with Michigan was cancelled. While the game’s status is still up in the air as a result of the COVID spread in the Wolverine locker room, Ohio State isn’t the only team that will be impacted by the change.

WIsconsin won’t be able to play six regular season games at this point because of their early struggles with the virus, and with growing concerns in many locker rooms around the conference, there’s no telling how many more games will be cancelled for each program. Other conferences have the leisure of postponing games that can be played at a later date, but the Big Ten’s delayed start to the 2020 season doesn’t afford them that opportunity if they want to see their teams become bowl-eligible come December and January.

Ohio State has the best chance to represent the Big Ten in the College Football Playoff this season, and with a limited amount of games on their schedule, every performance serves as a showcase of their talent to a committee deciding if they’re one of the four best teams in the nation. A conference championship would certainly help them cement their status as one of the elite college football teams of 2020. 

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