Ohio State-Northwestern set for Big Ten Championship Game after rule change

The Big Ten has amended their rule and has cleared the way for Ohio State to play Northwestern in the Big Ten Championship Game.

Ohio State will play Northwestern in the Big Ten Championship Game on Dec. 19 after the conference changed their rule that previously mandated a six-game minimum eligibility requirement for the game.

Stadium’s Brett McMurphy first reported this would happen on Saturday and was confirmed on Wednesday morning, one day after Ohio State’s game vs. Michigan was canceled.

The cancelation left Ohio State at 5-0 and one game shy of participating in the Big Ten Championship Game despite being in first place. Had the game been played and Ohio State lost their sixth game, they still would have won the Big Ten East.

Big Ten makes the right move changing an arbitrary rule to benefit Ohio State

This was the right decision by Big Ten athletic directors to remove the arbitrary number and pave the way for Ohio State to compete for the conference crown and add another bullet point on their College Football Playoff resume.

Sure, there will be critics who say the Big Ten should have stuck by the rule. As if this two-month-old rule is some sacred text or something. It’s more just Ohio State disdain and refusing to acknowledge their place at the College Football Playoff table.

They casually forget the ACC just chopped off the last week of the regular-season schedule to ensure Clemson and Notre Dame meet in their conference championship. So much for sticking by the rules.

The rules are made up on the fly anyway and the Big Ten refusing to back off their initial stance and keep their cleats dug into the turf is what backed them into this corner in the first place. Had the Big Ten season started in mid-September along with the ACC and Big 12, they would have had the built-in flexibility on the calendar to get in games and reschedule as necessary when the inevitable virus outbreaks and COVID concerns resulted in postponed and/or canceled games.

Big Ten rule change benefits every Big Ten school, not just Ohio State

Not only is this the right move from an on-field standpoint to get Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship Game because they are clearly the best team, but it is also sound financial sense as well.

Should Ohio State make the College Football Playoff, and they will if they beat Northwestern, the Big Ten schools stand to receive millions in return for the success of the Buckeyes. Denying the best team in the conference a chance at the playoff would have literally been burning millions upon millions. In this economy, that would have been an illogical move.

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