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Thursday, August 6, 2020
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS
KENT SCHWARTZ
Summer Managing Sports Editor
Big Ten releases testing procedures and protocol for fall sports
As many student-athletes and
parents are criticizing the lack of
standardized testing procedures
in the NCAA, the Big Ten on
Wednesday announced its own
testing standards for its schools
to follow.
Student-athletes
must
be
tested at least once a week using
polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
testing, and will be processed
by a third party laboratory that
all Big Ten institutions will use.
Sports that involve high levels
of contact will be tested at least
twice a week and testing will
begin once competition begins.
“Today’s
announcement,”
chair of Big Ten Council of
Presidents
Morton
Schapiro
said in a press release, “though
subject
to
local,
state
and
federal public health guidelines,
provides a path forward for
Big
Ten
student-athletes
to
return to competition based on
comprehensive, conference-wide
medical policies and protocols
established by the Big Ten Task
Force for Emerging Infectious
Diseases and the Big Ten Sports
Medicine Committee.
“We will continue to evaluate
the best available information
and advice from public health
officials as we make decisions
and necessary adjustments going
forward.”
Participation in fall sports
will
remain
optional,
and
student-athletes who choose not
to participate will keep their
scholarships for the year and
“remain in good standing with
the team.” While the Big Ten
announced its football schedule
on Wednesday, it hasn’t done
the same for the remaining fall
sports, stating that the situation
is fluid and those sports will
be postponed until at least
September 5.
Fluidity is the theme in all
collegiate athletics’ return to
campus: Despite successful early
returns of student-athletes to
campus, institutions across the
country
(including
Michigan)
have canceled some voluntary
workouts because of positive
COVID-19 tests.
The guidelines released today
are a bare minimum for schools
hoping to play, and certain
colleges may put in place stricter
policies
for
student-athletes.
Additionally, as contact-tracing,
other safety protocols or data
trends come into play, the Big
Ten is emphasizing flexibility in
its policies.
“With the knowledge we have
today, providing potential options
for all of our student-athletes
was of the utmost importance to
us, all while ensuring there is a
process in place to incorporate
student-athlete feedback,” Big
Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren
said in the release.
“While a comprehensive plan
has been developed, we also
know it is essential to continue to
be agile as new information and
health trends become available
and we will adjust accordingly.”
Michigan
classes
start
on
Aug. 31, and the true extent of
the disease’s impact on college
athletics will only be known once
students return to campus.
Michigan’s conference-only schedule announced Wednesday
This year, the Wolverines won’t
lose their ninth-straight game
to Ohio State over Thanksgiving
weekend.
In The Big Ten’s release of
its
conference-only,
10-game
schedule,
Michigan’s
annual
matchup against the Buckeyes
is set to take place on Oct. 24 in
Columbus. The move up follows
the conference’s approach to the
season: the earlier the better.
The season is intended to kick
off on Sep. 5, where the Wolverines
will take on Purdue at home, and
finish on Nov. 21 for all teams in
order to coordinate with schools’
schedules sending students home
at Thanksgiving. The only game
after the holiday will be the Big
Ten championship, with that only
involving two teams.
Beyond a date change, for the
second year in a row, Michigan
will play Michigan State in Ann
Arbor. Without fans, playing at
The Big House rather than Spartan
Stadium packs less of a punch than
it would in a normal year, but either
way the Wolverines will not have to
travel for their Oct. 3 faceoff.
The one Big Ten team that
Michigan is slated to play that was
not previously on its schedule is
Northwestern. The game against
the Wildcats takes place on Nov. 21
and is its final game of the season.
In order to begin on the season on
the scheduled date, the conference
is allowing teams to start practices
this Friday, Aug. 7.
Still,
the
conference
has
expressed that flexibility is key.
“The 10 games would be played
over at least 12 weeks with each
team having two open dates,” The
Big Ten said in its Wednesday
morning release. “... Games can be
collapsed into bye weeks. … (and
the) Schedule (is) constructed in
a way that allows season to start
as early as the weekend of Sept.
5, but also provides the ability to
move the start of the season back to
Sept. 12, 19 or 26 through strategic
sequencing that allows games to
be moved to a latter part of the
schedule.”
Michigan’s bye is in week six, the
week of Oct. 11, and is sandwiched
between Michigan State and at
Indiana. All teams have a uniform
bye the week of Nov. 28, following
the scheduled last game of the
season.
Still,
despite
built-in
flexibility, the conference isn’t one-
hundred percent sure their plan is
failsafe.
“If the virus continues to spread
among our students despite our
many
preventative
measures,
including testing and quarantine
protocols,” The Big Ten statement
said, “we are also prepared to
delay or cancel competition
pursuant
to
local
and
state
public
health
orders
or
the
recommendations of our medical
experts.”
So
despite
now
having
a
schedule, as everyone should know
by this point in the year, it all could
change at any moment.
Michigan’s 2020 schedule:
Sep. 5 vs. Purdue
Sep. 12 @ Minnesota
Sep. 19 vs. Penn State
Sep. 26 @ Rutgers
Oct. 3 vs Michigan State
Oct. 11 BYE
Oct. 17 @ Indiana
Oct. 24 @ Ohio State
Oct. 31 vs. Wisconsin
Nov. 7 vs. Maryland
Nov. 21 @ Northwestern
NICHOLAS STOLL
Summer Managing Sports Editor
MILES MACKLIN/Daily
The Big Ten released its plan for COVID-19 testing on Wednesday.
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Michigan is slated to play Michigan State in Ann Arbor for the second straight year in its new Big Ten-only schedule.