Report: Ohio State CoVID-19 Issues Might Delay National Championship Game

AL.com is reporting that the Buckeyes are dealing with enough positive cases and associated contact tracing that an entire position group could be out for Monday's game.

Ohio State football fans across the country are holding their breath.

According to a report from John Talty and Matt Zenitz of AL.com (each cover Alabama and the SEC), CoVID-19 concerns within the Ohio State program could potentially delay the national championship game.

As of now, the game is still scheduled to be played on Monday, Jan. 11.

OSU AD Gene Smith just texted @YahooSports: "We are on track to play." https://t.co/vQjLzvuoB3

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) January 5, 2021

Their report indicates that Ohio State has informed key decision makers that it could be without an entire position group due to CoVID-19 testing and contract tracing protocols.

More from the report:

"There have been discussions amongst the SEC, Big Ten, the College Football Playoff and the schools related to possibly postponing the Jan. 11 title game, sources said, though a final decision on the situation has yet to be reached. The CFP has already established Jan. 18 in Hard Rock Stadium as the makeup date should the title game have to be postponed."

When he was asked about the lead up time and level of intensity perhaps dropping off after such an emotional win against Clemson, Ryan Day told the media on Monday:

"You know, it's a good lead-up time. We get 10 days here and kind of rest up a little bit and then get to work and practicing. So I think we'll be refreshed and ready to roll. The virus still hasn't gone away, so we've got to make sure we're really vigilant in that area, which is still a struggle day in and day out. It's just hard. But the preparation is just going to continue to go on. Again, we said it going into the last game, we're going to have to play our best game. Well, we're going to have to even play better than we did last week to beat Alabama. "

Meanwhile, Nick Saban's daughter tweeted that she thinks the Buckeyes are using CoVID-19 as an excuse.

Ohio State doesn't release any information related to CoVID-19 issues within the program, so there's no way to know for certain exactly how many players have been impacted by this latest wave. But whenever the game is played, Ohio State is bound by the Big Ten's 17-day return-to-play protocols, meaning any player that's been diagnosed with the virus since the Sugar Bowl won't be able to play in the national championship game. But perhaps the Buckeyes could get any players back that tested positive before the Sugar Bowl was played. That remains to be seen.

In the meantime, CFP Executive Director told SI's Pat Forde, "There are no changes to report. The game is scheduled for January 11 as planned and we are looking forward to it."

We will update this story as more information becomes available.

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