Big Ten puts out football slate
The Big Ten on Wednesday released its 10-game conference-only football schedule beginning as early as Labor Day weekend but cautioned there is no certainty games will be played.
The Big Ten was the last of the Power Five conferences to announce its schedule as college football navigates how to play games amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“We’re approaching this entire process on a dayto-day basis,” commissioner Kevin Warren said. “We’re gathering medical information daily, we’re communicating with all of our constituents in the Big Ten and communicating with student-athletes. This will not be a straight line this year.”
Under the revised schedule, teams will play conference opponents they originally were set to meet and will have one additional cross-division game.
The regular season starts the weekend of Sept. 5 and runs through Nov. 21. There is a built-in cushion allowing for makeup games to be played, if necessary. The 10 games would be played over at least 12 weeks, with each team having two open dates. Nov. 28 also is available for makeup games. If the coronavirus situation dictates, the season could start Sept. 12, 19 or 26.
◆ UConn canceled its 2020-21 football season, becoming the first FBS program to do so, after other schools had taken the Huskies off their schedules and the governor was reluctant to allow players to travel to states with high infection rates.
BASEBALL Judge ups HR count, but Yanks’ streak ends
Bryce Harper and J.T. Realmuto homered to back Zack Wheeler and lead the “visiting” Phillies to an 11-7 victory, snapping the Yankees’ seven-game winning streak in the opener of a seven-inning doubleheader in Philadelphia. Aaron Judge hit his seventh homer in just the 10th game for the Yankees. The Yankees won the nightcap 3-1.
† Nationals starter Max Scherzer exited because of a hamstring problem after laboring through one inning, overshadowing Juan Soto’s eventful 2020 debut for the World Series champs, and Rick Porcello collected his 150th career win in the visiting Mets’ 3-1 victory. Soto had a run-scoring double in his first official at-bat since October. He singled his second time up, although he was soon tagged out when he slid off the bag trying to go first-to-third on a teammate’s hit.
NBA Simmons leaves game with injured knee
Ben Simmons left the game in the third quarter with a knee injury, but the 76ers held on to beat the Wizards 107-98 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Simmons suffered the injury when he landed awkwardly after grabbing an offensive rebound, but an MRI came back clean and he is day-to day.