The Big Ten announced yesterday it was postponing its fall sports season, including football, because of concerns about competing during the COVID-19 pandemic. It becomes the first Power Five conference to postpone and follows the MAC, who postponed their season last week, and the Mountain West conference, as well as Massachusetts and Connecticut, both football independents, who canceled their falls seasons this week.
Illinois recently announced it had 23 athletes, including 18 football players, test positive since June. Northwestern paused workouts earlier this month after one player tested positive and 37 players were quarantined, until it was determined the test was a false positive. Michigan State quarantined its entire team after 16 players tested positive, and Rutgers halted workouts after players reportedly contracted COVID-19 while attending a party, raising the team’s positive cases to 28. A dozen Big Ten football players had previously opted out, including Penn State linebacker Micah Parsons and Purdue wide receiver Rondale Moore.
The conference hopes to move the fall sports to the spring, assuming the pandemic lightens up and allows for it.
Former Bears defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan, who developed the ’46’ defense that helped the team win their only Super Bowl title, died yesterday at the age of 85. Ryan was hired by the Bears in 1978 and was kept on board when Mike Ditka became head coach in 1982 after defensive players wrote to owner George Halas showing support. The relationship between Ryan and Ditka eventually broke down, culminating in a halftime skirmish during the team’s only loss of the 1985 season against the Dolphins.
