The Big Ten has officially finalized its policy for what will happen when a team has a COVID-19 outbreak during the 2021-2022 college football season.
The NCAA’s Granddaddy conference has decided to penalize teams struggling to contain COVID-19 cases and leading to outbreaks. The Big 10 talked to its medical experts, infectious disease experts, school chancellors and presidents, and the BIG 10 Athletic Directors on this decision.
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The final decision will be that any team with a major COVID outbreak and is not able to play the game as scheduled, the team with COVID issues will forfeit. There will be NO rescheduling games this season, something that became a major issue last season.
Indiana Football felt the impact of canceled games in 2020 immensely. The team saw their biggest rivalry game get canceled against Purdue, not once but twice. The Big 10 also saw their most-watched game of the season get canceled in the Michigan-Ohio State ‘The Game’ rivalry. This directly affected the Hoosiers and the conference tailored its rules to OSU and changed the minimum number of games needed to reach the conference championship.
This year, teams will have to be even more diligent about avoiding positive COVID cases so their season can stay on schedule and as planned. There is no room for error anymore, so teams need to get their vaccination rates as high as possible.
"“The conference has determined that if one of its member institutions is unable to play a conference contest due to COVID-19, that contest shall be declared a forfeit and will not be rescheduled. That contest shall be considered a loss for the team impacted by COVID-19 and a win for its opponent in the conference standings.”"
The conference also announced that should both teams scheduled to play each other have COVID issues and are both unable to play, the game will not occur and will be officially ruled a “no contest”.
The Hoosiers are gearing up for their Week 1 showdown vs Iowa. The team must be diligent and stay safe and healthy to gear up for a massive season.