Ohio State No Longer Exploring Fall Football After Big Ten Postponement, AD Says

Mark Duncan/Associated Press

The Ohio State football program won't explore avenues to play in the fall after the Big Ten canceled the fall sports schedule with the intent of resuming football in the spring. 

"There's not a fall option," athletic director Gene Smith told ESPN's Adam Rittenberg. "We had hoped and just realized that not too long ago. We're all about the spring and how do we set that up."

"We just embraced the spring. I think it's realistic," Smith added. "We hadn't spent any time on it. None. Now that we are, it becomes clear that it's realistic."

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day, meanwhile, told reporters (via Rittenberg) that he was hoping the Big Ten came up with a plan for the spring season quickly and that those games start as early as January:

"What is fast? It's got to be weeks. It can't be months. We've got to start it as soon as we can.

"I'm sure there will be a lot of back-and-forth here, but ... starting the first week of January would be the best week to go, an eight-week season. That way there is some separation between that season and the next season. We get some midyear guys to come in and possibly play a two-for-one, they'd get two seasons in one calendar year, which I think the recruits would be really excited about. That's the focus right now."

That might also afford potential NFL prospects like Justin Fields the chance to both play the season and go through NFL draft preparations. Pushing the season into the actual spring months would make it impossible fr Fields to do both, with the draft held in April each year. 

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Fields pretty succinctly expressed his dissatisfaction with the Big Ten's decision to cancel the fall season:

The Big Ten wasn't alone in that decision, with the Pac-12 also canceling fall sports amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The SEC, ACC and Big-12 are currently moving ahead with plans to play football in the autumn.