For the first time in a century, Indiana and Purdue will not meet on the football field.
The two schools mutually agreed to cancel Saturday’s game at Memorial Stadium due to a rising number of positive COVID-19 cases within both football programs.
In a joint statement, Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson and Purdue athletic director Mike Bobinski wrote:
"We're certainly disappointed that we had to cancel the Old Oaken Bucket game. We both understand the history and tradition of one of the best rivalries in college football, but the safety and well-being of our student-athletes, coaches and staff is our primary priority. We will continue to monitor the situation on both campuses and listen to the advice of our medical professionals."
Indiana and Purdue first played in 1891 and had played every year since 1920. The 1918 game was cancelled due to the Spanish flu pandemic.
Indiana’s game was not the only Big Ten game canceled this weekend. The game between No. 3 Ohio State and Michigan was called off Tuesday, also due to the virus, and left the league scrambling over what to do about the Big Ten championship game on Dec. 19.
And when the Big Ten got together Wednesday, it re-wrote the rules. And that proved costly for Indiana.
Before the season began, the league said a team must play at least six of its eight scheduled games to be eligible for the Big Ten championship game, which has the winner of the East Division playing the winner of the West on Dec. 19 in Indianapolis.
Big Ten East leading Ohio State played five games. Second place Indiana played seven.
And while the Buckeyes won all their games, including a 42-35 win over Indiana, they still played one game shy of what was necessary to be eligible for the title game. That should have meant the eligible team with the best record in the division -- Indiana at 6-2 -- would be elevated to that role.
But the league reversed course Wednesday and eliminated the minimum games requirement, giving Ohio State the East's spot in the championship game against West champion Northwestern.
The league's rationale was that because Ohio State held the tiebreaker over Indiana, even if it had lost to Michigan, it still would have won the division.
"Although we understand the conference's decision, we are disappointed. From the start of the year, we have said we can only control what we can control. We had a chance to earn our spot in the Big Ten championship game, but ultimately fell a touchdown short on the road against a great Ohio State team," Dolson said in a statement. "We look forward to resuming activities and completing oneof the best seasons in our school's history."
Indiana is now scheduled to face Iowa, the second-place team in the West, during the Big Ten cross-over games on Dec. 19. That’s when teams from each division will play the team that finishes in the same place as they do.
But now those games become in doubt, because most teams that pause their programs due to COVID-19 have had to do so for multiple weeks.
The Hoosiers finish the regular season ranked the highest they have been since 1967, when Indiana went to the Rose Bowl. They beat three top 25 teams in a season for the first time ever this year and tied a school record with six Big Ten wins.
"Coach (Tom) Allen and I are proud of this team and the success we've had so far this season," Dolson said in the statement.
