Day leaves door cracked for fall football options
On Tuesday, media members caught up with a weary Gene Smith leaving the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, and the Ohio State athletic director said he probably wasn’t in the right frame of mind to go on the record given the day’s hectic and disappointing events.
Still, Smith said it wasn’t realistic that Ohio State would leave the Big Ten to play a fall season, and that a spring slate would be his new focus going forward.
The door seemed closed on any fall football for Ohio State, but on Wednesday, head coach Ryan Day cracked it open just a bit. Day said he and Smith are now asking questions about potential scrimmages between the Big Ten teams that were willing to play in the fall, and trying to find out why the Buckeyes couldn’t necessarily leave the conference given the unique circumstances.
“That’s a fluid situation. Gene and I talked again this morning at length about this and we’re still exploring all those options,” Day said. “I know yesterday you guys kind of grabbed [Smith] walking out of the facility and maybe a bad time, but no, this thing’s moving, it’s changing, and we are looking at everything. I can promise you that.”
Day and Nebraska head coach Scott Frost had been vocal about the desire to potentially play games outside of the Big Ten prior to the conference’s decision to postpone the season Tuesday, but Smith seemed to shoot down hopes with his comments in the afternoon.
"We have a contract that we are obligated to with our television partners, so that's not happening. We're moving to –– mentally we've shifted –– and we're looking at the spring as an option," Smith said Tuesday.
According to a report from Pete Thamel for Yahoo Sports Tuesday evening, Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren said that Nebraska could not play games with the Big 12 this fall while still being considered a member of the Big Ten, which appeared to slam the door even further on the prospects of a fall conference flip.
However, Day said Wednesday that Ohio State is continuing to follow-up with the same avenues that Nebraska is exploring.
“Some of the things Nebraska’s asked about is something that we’re continually asking about as well. We play nonconference games year in and year out, so in this unique situation, we’re just trying to find out what exactly the conference’s stance is on this, and what it means, the TV contracts and everything else,” Day said.
It may not be all that likely for Day to revive any type of fall season for the Buckeyes, given the finality of the Big Ten’s decision Tuesday, but after seeing the sacrifices his players have made over the past several months, Day said he’ll do whatever he can to allow his team to get on the field.
“We’re trying to explore every option possible. We owe it to our kids to do that, and that’s what we’re doing,” Day said. “I can’t really get into specifics because there’s still a lot of unknowns there, but we’re asking all the questions and pushing the envelope as much as we can.”
Check out Day's full Wednesday media availability here: