Indiana and Purdue have mutually agreed to cancel their game Saturday in Bloomington because of an increase in COVID-19 cases at the schools.
In a joint statement, Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson and Purdue counterpart Mike Bobinski expressed their disappointment in having to call off the Old Oaken Bucket rivalry game.
“We both understand the history and tradition of one of the best rivalries in college football, but the safety and well-being of our student-athletes, coaches and staff is our primary priority,” the statement said. “We will continue to monitor the situation on both campuses and listen to the advice of our medical professionals.”
On Tuesday, Purdue announced it had canceled practice to evaluate the results of recent COVID-19 testing. Roughly five hours later, Indiana announced it was pausing all team-related activities because of its own increase in positive cases. The Hoosiers did not practice Tuesday morning, and all players, Tier I coaches and staff underwent PCR testing.
This was the last scheduled game in the regular season for both programs, and each was set to participate in the Big Ten Champions Week, in which all conference teams would play a cross-division game along with the conference championship.
The Hoosiers were in second place in the East Division, but it had been possible they would play in the conference championship because Ohio State has not met the minimum game threshold set by the conference since the Buckeyes have played only five regular-season games.
However, Big Ten athletic directors met Wednesday morning, and sources told ESPN’s Heather Dinich and Adam Rittenberg that the conference is expected to change its policy that requires six games to gain eligibility in the championship game. That would then pave the way for Ohio State to play against Northwestern on Dec. 19 for the conference championship pending further approval by the league.
Now the Hoosiers could be in a situation where they won’t be able to play next weekend unless they can corral the current rise in positive cases at the school.