Why did the Big Ten move Ohio State vs. Michigan? Making sense of The Game’s new date on 2020 football schedule

“Why are they not making the OSU/Mich game last game of the season?”  

That’s the text I received from a thread with my three best friends seconds after the Big Ten schedule was released Wednesday morning. Michigan will play at Ohio State on Oct. 24 this year — a change that former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said “takes your breath away.”  

“It’s heartbreaking, to be honest with you. But adaptability, sacrifice are all gonna be critical on everyone’s part,” Meyer said on the Big Ten Network. 

Meyer knows the rivalry best. He was 7-0 as a head coach against the Wolverines. The Big Ten, however, sacrificed its biggest tradition. 

You can try to understand the Big Ten logic and television networks’ decision-making process. They want to make sure that big-time rivalry game happens to help drive the revenue that could be lost if the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic forces a partial cancellation of the 2020 college football season. They took a cue from the Pac-12, which put USC-UCLA in its opening week on Sept. 26.  

MORE: Ranking every top five showdown between Michigan and Ohio State

The Game has been one-sided, with the Buckeyes winning 15 of the past 16 meetings. Rumors that The Game would be moved were floated last week, so at least there was some preparation for it. 

That’s the why. You try to make some sense of it all, then you see it makes no sense at all. It still leads to some illogical conclucsions. If you’re going to move it up just to get it in, then why not put it in September? Why would you slot that game in the middle of October? Why not try to provide a sense of normalcy in that unstable environment? 

The reaction from both sides is the truth. The Game — even in the current college football landscape — belongs in the last week of the regular season. If Indiana and Purdue can play for the Old Oaken Bucket in the final week of the regular season on Nov. 21, then Ohio State and Michigan can play in that slot, too. 

Look at both teams’ schedules. 

The Buckeyes are playing Michigan before Halloween, and they play an equally important game in terms of the Big Ten East race at Penn State on Nov. 7. Why not move that game up instead?  Ohio State has a bye week before the regular-season finale against Iowa. Nothing screams Senior Day quite like a home game at The Shoe against the Hawkeyes.  

The schedule doesn’t do Michigan any favors either, other than bringing Michigan State back to the Big House for a second straight season. The Wolverines have to play Wisconsin the week after The Game, and they close the season with Maryland on Nov. 7 and a road game at Northwestern on Nov. 21.  

By moving the game, the buildup to The Game has been effectively wiped out. November simply doesn’t mean as much. You’ve seen this with other rivalries, such as Bedlam between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, which is no longer played in the final week of the regular season. It’s a precedent that might change college football’s best rivalry.  

For a conference that thrives on tradition and holds that rivalry between Michigan and Ohio State so close, it’s a move that concedes that the entire regular season might not happen. Ohio State and Michigan design their programs around those three-and-a-half-hours. Legacies are defined by it. It’s always been that way. Will it always be that way after 2020? 

Even if Michigan-Ohio State does happen, it won’t feel the same. You’ll have ruined Halloween for the losing fan base. You’ll have taken away those Thanksgiving week traditions both sides enjoy so much. There is still something to be said for trying to play the game at the right time, even in the current conditions. 

That’s the way it should be. The 2007 HBO documentary “Michigan vs. Ohio State: The Rivalry” painted that tradition best during a montage that illustrates how much that tradition means to both sides of the rivalry. A voiceover says it all:  

“One of the things that makes the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry so great and separates it from other sports rivalries is not only does it happen once a year, it happens at the same time every year. And all great traditions in most cultures happen at the same time.” 

The players can say what they want. Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields talked about Michigan on a teleconference Tuesday.  

For the fans, however, it cuts deeper. It does not matter how many fans — if any — are allowed in Ohio Stadium for that game. It does not matter who has the better record. The Game is the most important thing on the schedule — and if you think fans are over-reacting, wait and see what happens if the SEC moves the Iron Bowl between Alabama and Auburn up to October.  

The schedule at least left some wiggle room, however. Both teams have bye weeks on Nov. 14, and the open date on Nov. 28 for all the teams is built in just in case the COVID-19 pandemic forces more games to be moved around. Perhaps Michigan-Ohio State gets moved again at some point, but you can’t root for that to happen. That would mean the schedule has been affected even more by the pandemic. Nobody wants that.  

At least we still get The Game. Michigan and Ohio State fans live for it every single day. That’s why that text happened seconds after the announcement. That’s why Sept. 24 will not feel the same.   

Especially if and when they move Ohio State-Michigan from its traditional noon slot to primetime.