By Ralph D. Russo AP College Football Writer, and staff
COLUMBUS – Third-ranked Ohio State’s game at Illinois on Saturday has been cancelled because the Buckeyes have had a spike of COVID-19 cases this week.
Friday’s decision came about seven hours after Ohio State announced coach Ryan Day tested positive and wouldn’t travel with the team to Champaign, Illinois.
The OSU Department of Athletics paused all team-related football activities and cancelled the game after further positive tests for the coronavirus were discovered after a round of testing Friday afternoon. The decision was made jointly by Director of Athletics Gene Smith, University President Kristina M. Johnson, head team physician Dr. Jim Borchers and in consultation with the Big Ten.
“We have continued to experience an increase in positive tests over the course of this week. The health, safety and well-being of our student-athlete is our main concern, and our decisions on their welfare will continue to be guided by our medical staff,” Smith said.
Ohio State did not reveal how many members of the program had tested positive as has been the school’s policy all year.
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, the university said in a release just before 10:30 p.m.
This is the second cancellation on the Buckeyes’ schedule this season and leaves the Big Ten’s best team precariously close to being ineligible to play for the conference title.
Conference rules require teams to play at least six game in this abbreviated season to be eligible to play in the conference championship game. The minimum could drop if the average number of games played by all Big Ten teams falls below six.
Ohio State (4-0) has only two games left to play and the conference’s revamped schedule includes no open dates when a canceled game could be made up.
In that case the minimum number of games required to be eligible for the championship game would be two fewer than the average.
The Big Ten has 18 games remaining, including four Saturday. More than half of those games would have to be canceled for the minimum number of games to qualify for conference championship to drop below six.
Maryland officials cancelled the Nov. 14 game between the Buckeyes and Terrapins earlier in the season.
Ohio State has only two game remaining on its regular-season schedule: at Michigan State on Dec. 5 and home against Michigan on Dec. 12. The Big Ten championship game is Dec. 19.
The Big Ten started its season the weekend of Oct. 24 and scheduled no open dates for makeups in its eight-week, regular-season schedule.
No. 18 Wisconsin already has lost three games after Minnesota canceled earlier this week because of a COVID-19 outbreak. That will leave the Badgers, the Big Ten West favorites, with only five regular-season games at most.
The Buckeyes were fourth in the first College Football Playoff rankings released earlier this week.
Day is the 19th major-college football coach this year to publicly acknowledge testing positive for the virus, including Alabama’s Nick Saban earlier this week.
Across college football, 16 of the 58 games originally scheduled for this week have been postponed or canceled, though some replacements have been added.