Michigan AD says Big Ten should not ‘hunker down’ and keep Ohio State out of championship game

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel believes the Big Ten should not stand in the way of Ohio State playing in the league championship game.

When Michigan’s coronavirus cases forced the cancellation of Saturday’s game, it left the Buckeyes — at least for now — with no opponent.

If Ohio State does not play again, it finishes 5-0, one game short of the six required to play in the Big Ten championship. That rule was implemented for 2020 in anticipation of cancellations.

Manuel said he is open to rule adjustments that would allow Ohio State to play in the championship game regardless of games played. The Buckeyes are the only undefeated team in the East and beat one-loss Indiana 42-35 earlier this season.

“I would be open, and I think the conference would be open, to having a discussion about whether or not we should make adjustments, whether or not schedules should be adjusted to get Ohio State enough games to play six, or to play the championship with five,” Manuel said in a video conference with reporters.

“But I don’t think we should just hunker down and say, ‘Well, we said six, so that should be it.’ The conversation deserves to happen, to see if we could have any adjustments made. Because this is unprecedented times for everybody, and we need to make sure that we are flexible and able to move and make decisions based off the data that we have.”

• Why Ohio State football likely needs a rule change in order to play for the Big Ten championship

The Big Ten rules set before the season said teams could qualify with fewer than six games played only if the average number of games for all teams fell below six games. At this stage, that could not happen even if all seven games this weekend were canceled.

Ohio State, Wisconsin and Maryland have all had three games canceled this season due to COVID-19. However, the Buckeyes are the only Big Ten team that missed out on playing two games because of the bad luck of being scheduled to play two opponents who had outbreaks that week. Ohio State did have one game canceled because of its own spike in cases.

“We made decisions months ago now about six-out-of-eight games, not knowing where this pandemic would take us,” Manuel said. “We were all hoping to play all eight games. And like we have done on the medical subcommittee, which I sit on, and throughout this process, we have discussed, we have adjusted, we have changed.

“I don’t believe anybody — Ohio State or any other team — should just be punished for decisions we made by looking at eight games and saying we should play six, and not knowing the effects of what happens to them and their team … because what happens to our team affects them.”

Manuel also said he believes Ohio State is one of the four best teams in the country, and would be a “great representative” for the College Football Playoff.

He also did not dismiss the idea of playing The Game during the Big Ten’s inaugural “championship weekend.” Originally, that weekend was set aside for additional crossover games — in conjunction with the Big Ten championship — to fill out the TV schedule.

“We will play whoever is going to be scheduled for us,” Manuel said.

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