MSU and Maryland Are Off…Again

The Big Ten's Champions Week has continued to crumble as many games that have been scheduled outside of the actual championship has been going by the way side.

Earlier this week, the Michigan Wolverines game at Iowa was cancelled after the Maize and Blue crew continues to battle COVID issues within the program. Based on the Big Ten restrictions from health officials, there is a 21-day no activity for players that test positive. At the time of the announcement Monday, the Wolverines had over 50 players that were out of commission for the contest.

On Thursday, the Michigan State Spartans learned that their opponent, the Maryland Terrapins, were forced to cancel their game Saturday. In their release, the Terrapins announced that advice from health officials pushed them to cancel. During the past week, 15 student-athletes tested positive for COVID-19 and three others were presumed positive to tracing. There were also six staff members in quarantine due to COVID issues.

Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker returned a response later Thursday.

While we were looking forward to finishing the regular season this Saturday at Maryland, we certainly understand the decision to cancel the game. The health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches and staff will always be our No. 1 priority. I want to thank our medical staff for everything they have done for our program all season long. They have done a tremendous job keeping us safe and we worked hard as a team to remain diligent in following all of our safety protocols.

The Spartans were one of the safest teams in the Big Ten as they finished 2-5 under Tucker in his first season. Out of the nine games on their schedule, only two were canceled due to COVID concerns. Ironically, both of them were against Maryland and the cancellations came from their program.

The MSU-Maryland game became the third contest of Champions Week that was canceled due to COVID. Friday's Purdue-Indiana contest was also squelched on Monday.

The Champsionship game in Indianapolis between #3 Ohio State and #15 Northwestern is slated for a Noon kick-off Saturday.