Saturday's Michigan at Ohio State game in Columbus has been canceled, Michigan announced Tuesday.
"The number of positive tests has continued to trend in an upward direction over the last seven days," said AD Warde Manuel. "We have not been cleared to participate in practice at this time. Unfortunately, we will not be able to field a team due to COVID-19 positives and the associated quarantining required of close-contact individuals. 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."
Michigan did not play a scheduled game with Maryland due to issues associated with COVID-19, and those issues have not subsided to a point where the Wolverines can field a team in time for Friday's game. Michigan returned to limited group workouts on Monday in hopes of returning to action.
So stringent are the Big Ten's return-to-play requirements that only one school managed to prevent a one-week cancelation bleed into two. That team was Ohio State, who canceled a Nov. 28 visit to Illinois but returned to beat Michigan State 52-12 on Saturday. The Buckeyes also lost a Nov. 14 game with Maryland due to a cancelation by the Terps.
As this will be be Ohio State's third cancellation of the season, the 5-0 Buckeyes are ineligible to appear in the Big Ten Championship barring an 11th hour reversal from Big Ten athletics directors.
The prospect of a cancelation by Michigan was the topic of mudslinging across the Michigan-Ohio border. Kirk Herbrsreit accused the Wolverines of ducking Ohio State, while Manuel responded by calling that, "A statement by a fool." Oddsmakers installed the Buckeyes as 30-point favorites over the 2-4 Wolverines, the largest on record in this series.
If Ohio State does not win the Big Ten, it would imperil their chances of reaching the College Football Playoff. The Buckeyes are No. 4 in the latest rankings heading into tonight's release.
Of note: Even if Ohio State is ineligible for the Big Ten Championship, the Buckeyes would still play one more game thanks to the Big Ten's "Champions Week" move to give every team a Dec. 19 game. As it stands today, Ohio State would face No. 16 Wisconsin while No. 11 Indiana would face West champion No. 14 Northwestern in the Big Ten title game. No. 5 Texas A&M will not play this weekend either following a cancellation by Ole Miss. The 7-1 Aggies have one more game, at 2-6 Tennessee.
Michigan and Ohio State first met in 1897 and have played 114 times since. This will be the first year since 1917 the maize and blue and scarlet and gray do not meet on the gridiron. Michigan holds a 58-51-6 all-time lead, though Ohio State has won 14 of 15, including all six games in the Jim Harbaugh era. Ohio State won 56-27 in Ann Arbor last November.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.