Cancellation of Old Oaken Bucket leaves Ohio State without possible replacement opponents

Ohio State is unable to play Michigan this weekend after The Game was canceled on Tuesday due to rising coronavirus cases within the Wolverines’ program.

The Buckeyes won’t play Indiana or Purdue in a replacement game, either.

Due to virus-related issues for both the Hoosiers and Boilermakers, the schools announced Wednesday afternoon that they had mutually agreed to call off their annual rivalry game known as the Old Oaken Bucket game. Neither team will be available on Saturday.

Indiana paused all team activities on Tuesday night due to rising cases, hours after Purdue canceled a practice.

Among the 10 other teams in the Big Ten, all of them are on track to play in previously scheduled games this weekend.

Without any additional cancelations, there are no idle opponents to meet the Buckeyes in a replacement game for Michigan.

Minnesota, which was recently hit the hardest by an outbreak of coronavirus cases and had been unable to play the last two weekends, is on schedule to face Nebraska after returning to practice earlier this week.

jkaufman@dispatch.com

@joeyrkaufman