The Big Ten will play a 10-game, conference-only football schedule that begins Labor Day weekend and includes ample flexibility, the league announced Wednesday morning.
Each team has two open weeks, and the schedule has four weeks built in to reschedule games, including a leaguewide open week on Nov. 28. The model allows for opening games on the weekend of Sept. 3-5 to be moved to Sept. 12, Sept. 19 or Sept. 26 “through strategic sequencing.”
The regular season is set to wrap up Nov. 21, and the league championship game is set for Dec. 5 with the ability to move back to as late as Dec. 19.
Michigan and Ohio State will face each other Oct. 24 — the first time since 1942 that the rivals will not play at the end of the regular season. The Indiana–Purdue game, pitting rivals from opposite divisions, will take place Nov. 21.
Big Ten teams can open preseason training camp Friday or earlier, depending on the date of their first game. Ohio State will open camp Thursday.
The Big Ten also announced medical protocols, including twice-weekly testing for COVID-19. The league will use a third-party laboratory to conduct centralized testing and “consistency in surveillance and pre-competition testing.” Commissioner Kevin Warren said at this time he didn’t not know how much the conference-wide testing plan would cost.