The Ohio State Buckeyes defeated the Indiana Hoosiers 42-35 on Nov. 21 but could be looking to the Hoosiers for help heading into the second weekend of December.
On Tuesday, Zach Osterman of The Indianapolis Star and other outlets reported that the Purdue Boilermakers canceled Tuesday's practice "to evaluate the results of recent COVID-19 testing."
While nothing beyond that is confirmed as of Tuesday afternoon, the news certainly puts Saturday's Purdue-Indiana showdown in doubt and came shortly after Ohio State's game versus the rival Michigan Wolverines was canceled due to the COVID-19 outbreak impacting Michigan.
Ohio State is No. 4 in the country with a 5-0 record but remains below the six-contest threshold needed to compete in the Big Ten championship game held on Dec. 19 per a conference rule announced before the start of the season held amid the coronavirus pandemic. The league could, however, scrap that stipulation to include the Buckeyes in the title game or clear Ohio State to schedule a last-minute opponent.
Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports tweeted that it's unlikely the Big Ten will ask a different conference team to face Ohio State on short notice:
Multiple sources told Yahoo Sports that no Big Ten programs have been asked to move games. There’d be a resistance to switch games mid-week after 3 full days of prep and practice. “I can’t see any team agreeing to change an opponent with 2 days left to prep,” said a B10 source.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) December 8, 2020
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