Ohio State and Michigan could play each other in season opener

A nasty Big Ten rivalry game could take place at the start of the 2020 college football season

The upcoming college football season is in major flux due to the recent spikes in new COVID-19 cases across the United States.

The Ivy League announced on Wednesday that all fall sports have been canceled, including football. On Thursday, the Big Ten announced that the 2020 season will be conference-only. But, there’s another caveat to the big news.

According to Adam Rittenberg of ESPN, the Big Ten will front-load the upcoming schedule with division games before a potential interruption caused by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. If we’re taking that into account, that means we could potentially get Ohio State vs. Michigan for the regular-season opener, which was initially scheduled to take place on Nov. 28 at Ohio Stadium.

OSU vs. Michigan will bring excitement to the upcoming season opener

The most anticipated matchup of the college football season on a yearly basis is between the Buckeyes and the Wolverines. But in recent years, it’s been all Ohio State in the nasty Eastern division rivalry.

Jim Harbaugh was hired by Michigan to help them take down the powerhouse Buckeyes. But since then, Harbaugh and the Wolverines are 0-5 against their rivals. Just last season, Ohio State trounced Michigan by the score of 56-27.

This season, the expectation is that Harbaugh will drop to 0-6 against the Ryan Day and Justin Fields-led Buckeyes. But we must take into consideration that these two squads normally meet near the end of the season, when Ohio State is warmed up and ready for the College Football Playoff. We can’t necessarily rule out Michigan pulling off the massive upset if these two meet for the first week of the campaign.

If the Big Ten is serious about putting divisional games at the beginning of the season, then they’d be doing a massive disservice if it’s not Ohio State vs. Michigan for Opening Day.