The first big Saturday of college football games is arriving and Ohio State coach Ryan Day said on Thursday that his players want answers per why they will be sitting and watching while others are in action.
The Big Ten postponed its fall season due to the coronavirus pandemic and hopes to play it in the spring. But Day sees the ACC and other conferences on the verge of playing games and it doesn’t sit right to him.
“These young men and their parents have asked so many questions that I do not have an answer to, but the one that hurts the most is, ‘Why can these other teams and players play and we can’t?’” Day said in a statement on his Twitter account. “Duke is playing Notre Dame, and Clemson is playing Wake Forest this weekend. Our players want to know: why can’t they play?”
Day said the communication of information from Big Ten leaders has been “disappointing and often unclear.” Nebraska also been highly vocal about its disappointment over the lack of a fall football season.
The Big Ten presidents voted on Aug. 11 to postpone the season. Commissioner Kevin Warren said at the time that “it became abundantly clear that there was too much uncertainty regarding potential medical risks to allow our student-athletes to compete this fall.”
The Pac-12 made a similar move to postpone its season to spring but the other three power leagues — the ACC, Big 12 and SEC — have moved forward with plans to play a fall season.
As those leagues take the field for games, more and more Big Ten players will wonder why they aren’t allowed to play.
Day said he is aware that there were health and safety factors in the Big Ten’s decision but he doesn’t understand why there isn’t an opportunity to return to the field when so many other schools are playing contests.
“We still have an opportunity to give our young men what they have worked so hard for: a chance to safely compete for a national championship this fall,” Day said. “I couldn’t possibly be prouder of how this team, our medical personnel, athletic director and president have stayed together and managed through this extremely difficult time with so many unanswered questions.
“The Big Ten Medical subcommittee has done an excellent job of creating a safe pathway toward returning to play in mid-October.”
In addition to top-ranked Clemson and No. 10 Notre Dame, highly ranked Big 12 schools Oklahoma (No. 5) and Texas (No. 15) play on Saturday.