Michigan has canceled its game against Maryland this weekend, it was announced Wednesday, after the Wolverines made all football activities virtual earlier this week due to a rise in COVID-19 cases within the program.
The decision to cancel the game as well as pause practices was made in consultation with medical professionals, who will ultimately determine when practices will resume.
The earliest Michigan will be able to get back on the practice field is Monday.
“The decision by our medical professionals to stop practices and cancel this Saturday’s game against Maryland was made with the health, safety and welfare of the student-athletes, coaches and staff as our utmost priority,” Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said in a news release. “We have seen an increase in the number of student-athletes unavailable to compete due to positive tests and associated contact tracing due to our most recent antigen and PCR testing results.”
The game against Maryland was Michigan’s last scheduled home game. With losses in all three home games played this season, this is the first time in program history Michigan has not had at least one home win.
The Wolverines are 2-4 on the season and still have Ohio State remaining on the schedule, in Columbus. With this game being canceled, there is no guarantee Michigan and Ohio State will play in the annual rivalry game.
If The Game is canceled next weekend as well, it would put Ohio State under the minimum six games required by the Big Ten to participate in the conference championship game. The exception is if the average number of games played by each team within the conference falls below six, in which case the Buckeyes would qualify.
Any change to the policy or division tiebreakers would have to be generated by the 14 athletic directors, who would ultimately have to agree on the changes.
Maryland is still practicing this week and is now preparing for its game against Rutgers on Dec. 12.
ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg contributed to this report.
