Big Ten Football

Penn State linebacker Micah Parsons won't be rejoining the team for the start of the Big Ten season next month.

Per Bob Flounders of PennLive.com, Penn State head coach James Franklin confirmed Parsons wouldn't be with the team despite some hope that it could happen once the conference decided to hold a fall season. 

Parsons announced on Aug. 6 he was opting out of the 2020 season for safety reasons and to prepare for next year's NFL draft:

"As I considered all my options for the 2020 season, I decided I needed to make a choice, not for myself, but for my son and those dearest to me. While I felt safe with the health and safety standards as we returned to Penn State for workouts, the potential risk to the health and well-being of my son far outweighed my urge to play football this season."

Per ESPN's Adam Schefter, Parsons was expected to sign with agents Andre Odom and David Mulugheta of Athletes First. 

That was before the Big Ten voted on Aug. 11 to postpone fall sports, including football, because of the coronavirus pandemic. 

On Sept. 13, the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors reversed course by voting to play a conference-only football season that will begin on Oct. 24. 

Following the conference's announcement, ESPN's Tom Van Haaren reported Parsons was "thinking about" playing for the Nittany Lions. 

B/R's Matt Miller projected Parsons to go No. 6 overall in the 2021 NFL Draft in his most recent mock on Sept. 7. The 21-year-old was a consensus All-American and All-Big Ten First Team selection in 2019. 

Penn State is ranked No. 10 in the current Associated Press Top 25 poll. It will open the season on Oct. 24 against Indiana at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington. 

Urban Meyer never lost to Michigan when he was head coach of Ohio State, and he rarely showed any mercy for the school's biggest rival. 

The former coach discussed running up the score against Michigan during an interview Tuesday on The Dan Patrick Show:

"Our players worked for that game every year, you get a chance to go in and play, I'm not going to tell them to slow down," Meyer said.

Ohio State has won eight straight games in the rivalry, with Meyer going 7-0 during his time with the school. 

There were certainly close battles, including the 2013 matchup that ended 42-41 and the 2016 version that ended with the No. 2 Buckeyes earning a 30-27 win over the No. 3 Wolverines. However, the margin has been at least double digits in five of the last six years.

Patrick referenced the 2018 battle where Ohio State won 62-39 behind six Dwayne Haskins touchdowns.

After last season's 56-27 romp behind new head coach Ryan Day, it's clear Michigan will have to work much harder to stop the Buckeyes from running up the score.

Michigan announced its eight-game schedule for the 2020 college football season Saturday after the Big Ten reversed its decision to postpone the campaign.

Here's a look at the entire conference slate, which will run from Oct. 24 through Dec. 12, with the Big Ten Championship Game tentatively set for Dec. 19:

The Wolverines have the best chance to unseat three-time defending champion Ohio State, but the rival Buckeyes are still the team to beat in the conference.

Importantly for OSU, Michigan and all of the other conference-championship contenders, the schedule will be completed before the College Football Playoff committee selects its participants Dec. 20. So the conference shouldn't be shut out of the playoffs despite its late start.

Here are predictions for each of Michigan's regular-season games:

• Oct. 24 at Minnesota: Win (1-0)
• Oct. 31 vs. Michigan State: Win (2-0)
• Nov. 7 at Indiana: Win (3-0)
• Nov. 14 vs. Wisconsin: Win (4-0)
• Nov. 21 at Rutgers: Win (5-0)
• Nov. 28 vs. Penn State: Win (6-0)
• Dec. 5 vs. Maryland: Win (7-0)
• Dec. 12 at Ohio State: Loss (7-1)

It's a highly favorable schedule. The Wolverines' games against Wisconsin and Penn State are both at home, while they don't face either Iowa or Nebraska. That's a good draw from the conference's second-tier contenders.

That said, opening on the road against Minnesota could be UM's biggest test aside from Ohio State. So it can't afford an early letdown at a time when there will be a lot of uncertainty given the unique nature of the 2020 campaign amid the coronavirus pandemic.

If Michigan and Ohio State each live up to expectations, it could be an undefeated clash Dec. 12 for the conference's East division title.

The Big Ten announced Saturday its 2020 football schedule will kick off Oct. 24 after the conference reversed a prior decision to postpone play until the spring. 

Weekly Schedule

Team Schedules

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Maryland

Michigan

Michigan State

Minnesota

Nebraska

Northwestern

Ohio State

Penn State

Purdue

Rutgers

Wisconsin 

The Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors voted Wednesday to allow football to resume in October based on "significant" progress on medical protocols, including "daily antigen testing, enhanced cardiac screening and an enhanced data-driven approach when making decisions about practice/competition."

Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren released a statement about the decision:

"Our focus with the Task Force over the last six weeks was to ensure the health and safety of our student-athletes. Our goal has always been to return to competition so all student-athletes can realize their dream of competing in the sports they love. We are incredibly grateful for the collaborative work that our Return to Competition Task Force have accomplished to ensure the health, safety and wellness of student-athletes, coaches and administrators."

The conference confirmed daily testing of student-athletes will begin Sept. 30.

Following the Big Ten's initial announcement in August to postpone football in the spring, there was a grassroots effort to overturn the ruling. Most notably, Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields started a "#WeWantToPlay" petition that received over 300,000 signatures.

"I definitely think it had an effect [on the Big Ten returning]," Fields told reporters Friday. "I don't think it was the only thing that had an effect on it. If it didn't end up having an effect, I don't really care cause—at the end of the day—we all got what we wanted. I was doing what I could to get the season back."

Some Big Ten players have already opted out of the season, while others like Minnesota wide receiver Rashod Bateman have re-enrolled in school and will attempt to secure a waiver to play after the season was shifted back to the fall.

Ohio State was the clear favorite (-240) to win the conference followed by Penn State (+600), Michigan (+650) and Wisconsin (+1000) before the odds were taken down amid uncertainty about the season. Updated betting lines haven't been released.

Now the countdown is on with play set to resume in just over a month.   

University of Minnesota wide receiver Rashod Bateman has reportedly had a change of heart after opting out of the 2020 college football season.

According to Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports, Bateman now wants to play despite the fact that he opted out and hired an agent. He is currently on campus and enrolled as a full-time student.

Thamel added that Bateman and other players in similar situations will need clearance from the NCAA to play in 2020.

University of Minnesota head football coach P.J. Fleck released a statement on the matter and divulged that Bateman has been granted a waiver to practice with the team, although his waiver to play is still pending:

After initially voting against playing in the fall, the Big Ten held another vote this week and reversed course, meaning its season will now begin Oct. 23.

Bateman opted out in early August at a time when it was unclear if the Big Ten or any other conference would play football during the fall.

At the time, he cited "uncertainty around health and safety in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic" as the primary reason behind his decision:

Bateman is coming off a productive year, as he finished second on the team in receptions (60), receiving yardage (1,219) and receiving touchdowns (11) last season as a sophomore.

With Tyler Johnson moving on to the NFL, Bateman was in line to be the Golden Gophers' unquestioned No. 1 wideout in 2020. He played a key role in Minnesota's success last season, as it finished 7-2 in Big Ten play and 11-2 overall, marking its best win total since going 13-0 in 1904.

In an early 2021 NFL mock draft from Bleacher Report's Matt Miller, he projected Bateman to go 15th overall to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Ultimately, his fate will be decided by the NCAA, which has to determine whether the extenuating circumstances warrant letting him and others play in 2020 despite hiring agents.

It's been quite the week for the Ohio State Buckeyes football program.  

First, the Big Ten announced it was returning for a fall season starting on the weekend of Oct. 23 and 24, reigniting the Buckeyes' realistic national championship hopes. Then, All-American offensive lineman Wyatt Davis announced he would return to play for Ohio State after previously opting out.

Finally, star cornerback Shaun Wade said he would return, as well.

Wade broke the news on SportsCenter Thursday, saying he wants to return and compete for the national championship his team just narrowly missed out on last season.

The cornerback, who has played both on the outside and in the slot for the Buckeyes, was ejected because of a controversial targeting call in last season's College Football Playoff loss to Clemson, which was filled with questionable calls.

He said during the interview on SportsCenter he did not want his collegiate career to end with that play.

His return allows him to rewrite that script and is a massive boost for an Ohio State squad that needed a leader at the cornerback position. Both Jeff Okudah and Damon Arnette were selected in the first round of the 2020 NFL draft, leaving the Scarlet and Gray dangerously short of proven playmakers at cornerback.

Wade's return changes that.

Bleacher Report's Matt Miller projected him as the No. 18 overall pick of the 2021 NFL draft in his most recent mock.

"Wade needed the 2020 season to show he could handle full-time reps on the outside, but unless the Big Ten changes positions and allows a season, he will be betting on his potential to still land in the top 20 selections," Miller wrote.

The Big Ten did change its position, which means Wade and the Buckeyes can compete for a title while he attempts to bolster his draft stock.

This was a dumpster fire. A train wreck. A masterclass in how not to publicly handle a crisis.

The last six weeks have not been kind to the Big Ten. The conference's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic—and specifically who and how the difficult decision to postpone the football season was made—has been an endless public blunder filled with bouts of misinformation, parent protests, lawsuits and highly exposed indecisiveness from the decision-makers within the conference.

The initial decision was final, according to new Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren. It "will not be revisited," he said in a letter to the Big Ten community published August 19—a line that is now cringeworthy reading less than a month later

On Wednesday, that decision was revisited and reversed. The Big Ten will play football this fall in the form of a nine-game schedule, starting the weekend of October 24.

The return will come with daily antigen testing, beginning at the end of the month. Any member of the team who tests positive will be asked to sit out at least 21 days before returning. And if a team's overall positive rate exceeds 5 percent, it will pause for at least seven days.

"Our focus with the Task Force over the last six weeks was to ensure the health and safety of our student-athletes," Warren said in a release Wednesday. "Our goal has always been to return to competition so all student-athletes can realize their dream of competing in the sports they love. We are incredibly grateful for the collaborative work that our Return to Competition Task Force has accomplished to ensure the health, safety and wellness of student-athletes, coaches and administrators."

For the third time this year, the Big Ten will release a football schedule for its members. Likely very soon. It will be a tight eight-game regular-season schedule with little to no room for COVID-19 disruptions.

It will conclude with a "champions week," according to Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez—a revelation that was made in a press conference shortly after the return was announced. While the Big Ten Championship will be played December 19, just a day before the College Football Playoff is announced, the seeds from East and West will match up in one final game. (The No. 2 seed from the East will play the No. 2 seed from the West, and down the rankings it will go.)

This is where the praise starts, albeit slowly. Of all the unique scheduling changes made, this is without question the most innovative. And while a late-season matchup between Rutgers and Illinois might not cause the nation to flock to its televisions, the game's existence will provide more football and also give the conference another spotlight as it pertains to the College Football Playoff.

The fact that the playoff was even a part of the strategy here speaks volumes to how far we've come. It doesn't erase the damage that was done over the past five weeks. It doesn't undo the issues the conference had with messaging.

It also doesn't guarantee that this plan—which is clearly thought out and well-intentioned—will go off without a hitch. If the first few weeks have taught us anything, it's that postponements and adjustments are almost a foregone conclusion.

And still, this moment can be celebrated. It comes with risk and concern, which will remain regardless of how much more comfortable the conference is with the protocols. But its impact on the players, coaches, families, university employees and others is robust.

It would be easy to clobber the Big Ten even further. That the conference merely gave into public pressure. (It probably did.) That it hastily, and arrogantly, postponed its season first with the idea that the rest of the nation would follow. (It certainly did.)

The criticisms are valid. The pile-on, to this point, warranted. But regardless of why or how the Big Ten reversed a decision that was deemed irreversible last month, it should be praised.

That's not to say all should be forgotten. This should be a public relations lesson taught in marketing classes for years to come. But the conference's willingness to walk back such a polarizing decision is not something we should take lightly.

Beyond the optics, this is all about the outcome and the impact on those who truly have been impacted. This is (or at least should be) about the players and their passion and desire to play. Not the media. Not even the coaches. But the people who make this all possible.

It's why eight Nebraska players sued the conference last month. (The lawsuit was dropped in the wake of the Big Ten's decision Wednesday.) It's why a small collection of parents gathered outside the Big Ten's Illinois headquarters to showcase their displeasure on their children's behalf. It's why Ohio State head coach Ryan Day, one of the best young coaches in the country, openly questioned his displeasure with the decision last week.

Those players will be able to play. Their parents will be able to watch. That's what this moment should be about. That's why this outcome can be appreciated.

Not the way the conference bungled each opportunity to provide clarity. Or the way politics seeped into and eventually consumed the discussion. It's about people—specifically those who are directly involved, whose needs and wants take priority.

In the end, this game is about experiences and the emotions attached to those experiences. It's why the postponement was received with the vigor that it was. It's why the return is being embraced with such overwhelming counter-emotions.

The Big Ten shouldn't be faulted for wanting to protect its people. The original decision has noble origins, even if outcome and delivery were laced with issues.

But the conference listened and adapted. It wore the body blows; it was a deserving pinata. And while it failed so publicly along the way, it was able to deliver an outcome that will be safer for its participants while still granting close to a full season—at least what one looks like in the COVID-19 era.

It reversed course, using data and testing breakthroughs and other means to make it happen. And yes, public pressure factored too. But there is something to be appreciated about a group failing so spectacularly and then essentially acknowledging those mistakes with meaningful action shortly after.

Should it have waited to make these calls like others chose to? Without question. The hastiness and rush to declare the season unsalvageable seemed somewhat doomed from the beginning. But the end result, so it appears, is the one many wanted all along.

While you don't have to be happy for the conference or the people who decided to reverse course, those directly impacted by it will better for it, perhaps a bonus matchup between Rutgers and Illinois is enough to erase any animosity that still exists and sweeten the deal.

Adam Kramer covers college football for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @KegsnEggs.

The Michigan Wolverines will take the field later this fall after the Big Ten announced it will start its season on the weekend of Oct. 23-24, but quarterback Dylan McCaffrey reportedly will not be joining them.

According to Tom VanHaaren of ESPN, the brother of Carolina Panthers star Christian McCaffrey is seeking a transfer and will not play this season. That will preserve the two years of eligibility he has remaining.

VanHaaren noted McCaffrey appeared to fall behind in the quarterback competition with Joe Milton and Cade McNamara.

McCaffrey arrived at Michigan as a 4-star recruit in the class of 2017, per 247Sports' composite rankings.

However, he hasn't seen consistent playing time.

McCaffrey attempted a total of 35 passes across 2018 and 2019, appearing primarily in garbage time during blowouts. He lost his most realistic chance at starting over the past two years when Shea Patterson transferred from Ole Miss and was granted immediate eligibility.

While the path seemed clear for him to seize the starting role heading into 2020 with Patterson no longer eligible, it seems as though Milton and McNamara surpassed him in the competition.

Both were 4-star recruits coming into college, per 247Sports' composite rankings, and they'll have the chance to live up to the hype now that the Big Ten will play this fall.

Milton is 6-of-11 passing in his career for 117 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.

While Michigan's schedule has not been announced, it and the rest of the members of the Big Ten will play nine games this season. There will be eight regular-season matchups and then cross-divisional contests on the day of the conference championship that is scheduled for Dec. 19.

Michigan head football coach Jim Harbaugh spoke Wednesday for the first time since it was announced that Big Ten football is returning next month amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Dave Ablauf and Chad Shepard of the University of Michigan's athletics website, Harbaugh said the following in a statement: "Great news today. Over the past month, I could sense the anticipation from our players and coaches, and I'm thrilled on their behalf that they will have a chance to play a 2020 season. Stay positive. Test negative. Let's play football."

After the Big Ten presidents and chancellors originally voted to postpone the 2020 Big Ten football season instead of holding it in the fall, the conference announced Wednesday that it will begin its season the weekend of Oct. 24.

Per ESPN's Adam Rittenberg and Heather Dinich, the Big Ten members voted unanimously to hold their season in the fall because of "daily testing capabilities and a stronger confidence in the latest medical information."

The Big Ten joins the SEC, ACC and Big 12 in holding a fall season, meaning the Pac-12 is the only Power Five conference that won't be participating.

As part of Wednesday's announcement, the Big Ten noted that teams will play eight games in eight weeks, with the Big Ten Championship Game occurring on Dec. 19. That will ensure that Big Ten teams are eligible for the College Football Playoff.

According to Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports, the games will be played on campus with no fans in attendance aside from family members of the players, although that could potentially change over time.

While the circumstances surrounding the 2020 college football season are unique, there will be plenty of pressure on Harbaugh and the Wolverines to perform regardless.

Harbaugh is 47-18 with five bowl appearances during his five seasons at Michigan, but the team's performance has largely been a disappointment relative to the hype that surrounded the program when Harbaugh arrived.

The Wolverines are just 1-4 in bowl games under Harbaugh, and they have yet to win more than 10 games in a season with him at the helm, including a 9-4 mark last year.

Michigan was expected to be neck and neck with rival Ohio State for Big Ten supremacy. However, the Buckeyes have dominated the Wolverines to the tune of a 5-0 record with Harbaugh as head coach at Michigan.

Another loss to Ohio State and another season without a Big Ten title could put Harbaugh in the hot seat.