Big Ten’s planned return comes amid virus spike
The Big Ten reversed its decision to postpone football for the fall at the same time cases of COVID-19 were spiking in communities where the conference’s 14 schools are located.
The rate for confirmed positive cases increased by 60% in the past three weeks, to 25.5 confirmed positive cases per 100,000 residents, from 15.9 confirmed positive cases per 100,000 residents, according to data provided last week by Emory University.
“It’s definitely a bad situation,’’ said
Pooja Naik, a master of public health candidate at Emory's Rollins School of Public Health, who conducted the data analysis for USA TODAY.
Nine of the 14 counties with Big Ten schools showed higher infection rates during the past week, including Indiana and Michigan State, both up 101%, and
Penn State at 92%.
Indiana’s Monroe County topped all Big Ten counties with 63.2 cases per 100,000 — that infection rate trails only Virginia Tech’s Montgomery County among Power Five conference schools.
Every year I write how difficult it is to go undefeated. That has not changed. Clemson remains Clemson and would loom in the College Football Playoff. But Meyer has it right. The Buckeyes should not lose a game in the conference. And they better not if they hope to avoid critics doubling down on them.
Call it jealousy. Call it antipathy born of others’ arrogance. Call it a fallen world that likes to see the high brought low. Call it like it is: A lot of people hate Ohio State. Fans in places like Gainesville, Florida, and Waco, Texas and, yes, Bloomington, Indiana, love to watch the Buckeyes lose. Especially when there is no possible way they can. Like now.
I do not subscribe to the “Ohio State against the world” conspiracy mumbojumbo. The Buckeyes were ranked No. 2 in the preseason poll, not exactly the stuff of Russian hacking. It is just that, like any college football power, Ohio State offers a big target for criticism.
The latest bull’s-eye on the back of Brutus and Co. involves OSU’S successful push to play a fall season. A lot of people outside the four walls of Ohio did not appreciate the Big Ten presidents caving to the pressure to restart football just so one school — the one that begins with T-H-E — would have a chance to play for all the marbles.
One little line sent out on social media, with Ryan Day mentioning he wanted the Buckeyes to have “a chance to safely compete for a national championship,” was picked apart as if spoken during a presidential debate. More than one message board blew up with the accusation that the only reason Ohio State wanted the Big Ten to reinstate a fall season was to benefit the Buckeyes, not the conference as a whole.
The problem with social media is how it contorts context. Nuance and followup communication never get a chance to breathe because knee-jerk reaction and snap judgment rule. Twitter, especially, is a tinderbox in need of a spark to set off a conflagration of complaint, protest and cancel culture.
In this case, Ohio State provided the match. Outside the circled wagons of the program, the campaign by OSU coaches, players and parents to fast-track the return of football was viewed as symptomatic of an arrogant sense of entitlement during a pandemic. What originated as “We just want to play” came to be viewed as “We want to play because of course we’ll make the playoff.”
Buckeye Nation tends to agree. A Twitter survey of followers revealed that 53% of fans think Ohio State will win the CFP championship, compared to 47% who think OSU plays nine games or fewer. Put another way: There is a strong chance your neighbor thinks the Buckeyes will beat Clemson and Alabama in the playoff.
That would mean 11-0. It won’t be easy. roller@dispatch.com @rollercd