Ohio State Still Exploring Options for Fall Football Despite Big 10 Postponement

Although the Big Ten canceled all fall sports, Ohio State has yet to throw in the towel on football for this season.

Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day told reporters Wednesday he and OSU athletic director Gene Smith are continuing to discuss the matter, and Day left open the possibility of staging games independent of the Big Ten.

"That's a fluid situation," he said, per the Dayton Daily News' David Jablonski. "I know Gene and I talked again this morning. We're still exploring options. This thing's moving. It's changing. We're looking at everything. I promise you that."

Day had previously floated a temporary departure from the conference before the Big Ten announced the cancellation.

On Wednesday, he mentioned the possibility of a shorter football season that would kick off in January, thus allowing for plenty of time to recover ahead of a more traditional fall campaign.

The current quagmire across all of college football illustrates how much forward planning is required to safely stage a season amid a global pandemic. The regional nature of college sports and absence of a true universal governing body exacerbate the situation.

According to Yahoo Sports' Pete Thamel, it would appear administrators from the Big Ten didn't start to seriously consider the ramifications of delaying the fall season until a point at which it was impossible to executive any alternative plan:

The Big Ten said it would consider moving fall sports to the spring as it watches the pandemic continue to evolve.

Ohio State may not feel like waiting around for the conference to make up its mind, opting instead to work with other schools to line up the logistics for an abbreviated schedule that starts in the winter based on Day's suggestion.

Of course, that assumes the school would be able to seriously pursue that plan. Cleveland.com's Nathan Baird noted Ohio State is so big it can enjoy a level of autonomy but questioned whether another conference would welcome the Buckeyes with open arms.