Michigan Football vs Ohio State: The Game is off, so what next?
Michigan football won’t make the trip to Ohio State this year for “The Game” as it has been called off.
It was always a long shot that Michigan football was going to play Ohio State this Saturday and according to a report from Chris Balas of Rivals, the Wolverines won’t be playing in Columbus.
Balas who runs the Rivals Michigan site, posted the news on his Twitter account and attributed to it a program source. It was later confirmed by Michigan football.
Balas reported earlier (subscription required) today that if Michigan football did play Ohio State, it could have as little as 40 scholarship players available.
However, in his zoom meeting with the media, Ohio State football coach Ryan Day did say that he was expecting to have the game played Saturday. But then Balas came out with his news and the official cancellation followed soon after.
"This decision is disappointing for our team and coaches but their health and safety is paramount, and it will always come first in our decision-making.” pic.twitter.com/IHXOD6lXyj
— Michigan Football (@UMichFootball) December 8, 2020
“Everything we’re hearing, we’re playing the game” — Ryan Day on OSU zoom call today
— angelique (@chengelis) December 8, 2020
It seemed to be heading in that direction, especially after Michigan football was unable to play its game last week against Maryland. Certainly, there will be some on the Ohio State side who mirror things said by Kirk Herbstreit about U-M trying to duck the game.
That’s obviously not true.
The Wolverines may not have had their full team, but they haven’t all year and they would still love the chance to compete against the Buckeyes. That’s part of the reason why you come to Michigan to play football and if there is a single player that didn’t want a shot at the Buckeyes, then they shouldn’t be on the team anymore.
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But I don’t believe anyone on this Michigan team has that attitude. Things may have been bad this year and Ohio State would have surely made it worse, but it shouldn’t be interpreted as ducking.
At this point, Michigan football has just one more chance to play a game this season.
That could still come next week during the championship week as each Big Ten team is supposed to play the team in the other division that finishes in the same place as them. So first vs first for the title, then second vs second and so on.
But it seems unlikely that Michigan would be able to play next week if the outbreak has gotten worse. It’s possible and who knows if the Wolverines somehow won that game, maybe they could get into a bowl game.
But with all the uncertainty surrounding Harbaugh, a quicker end to the season might be better. And even if the head coach does accept the contract extension he was offered, it sounds like big changes are coming with the assistants.
Next. Most logical targets if Jim Harbaugh is replaced. dark
Yet, the longer this Harbaugh negotiation or whatever you want to call it takes to play out, the more it will hurt the Wolverines and the less likely it is that he returns. So stay tuned.