Ryan Day's plan for Ohio State, Big Ten football: 8-game schedule starting in January
Can the conference pull it off after postponing the fall sports schedule?
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Ohio State Buckeyes football coach Ryan Day said Wednesday he’s looking to present the Big Ten Conference a plan to begin an eight-game season in January and February.
Day told reporters he believed there was a major difference between playing in the winter and playing in the fall again, and playing in the spring and playing in the fall, according to the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. He added that he hopes a plan by the Big Ten can get drawn up quickly with the hope of NFL talent like Justin Fields and Shaun Wade being persuaded to play instead of jumping into draft-prep mode.
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“We're still exploring all those options,” Day said, according to ESPN. “This thing is moving. It's changing. And we are looking at everything, I promise you that.”
Day added: “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 in one calendar year, which I think the recruits would be really excited about. That's the focus right now.
OHIO STATE FOOTBALL PLAYER EXPRESSES CONFUSION AFTER SEASON POSTPONED, OK'D TO RETURN TO CAMPUS
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“We’ve got some work to do. I don’t know the answer, but I’m going to fight like heck for these guys to push for what we think is right. There will be some back and forth and conceding some points, but as I sit here right now, I feel pretty strongly about what I’ve said and I’m going to work hard to get it done.”
Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith said there were no options for competition in the fall after the Big Ten postponed the sports schedule.
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“We talked about what Nebraska was doing, looked at options that way, but it wasn't realistic,” Smith said, according to ESPN. “We just embraced the spring. That's what we're doing -- trying out how that, logistically, can work. We're on it. There's not a fall option. We had hoped and just realized that not too long ago as a result of conversations. We're all about the spring and how do we set that up. I think it's realistic. We hadn't spent any time on it. None. Now that we are, it becomes clear that it's realistic.”