Nebraska doesn't yet know its opponent and doesn't yet know where it will play on Dec. 19, which the Big Ten is billing as "Champions Week."Â
What is known now, though, is that they'll be playing on a campus rather than at a neutral site.Â
The conference is planning for games played on Dec. 19 aside from the Big Ten title game — which is slated for 11 a.m. at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis — to take place on campuses rather than in domed stadiums around the Big Ten footprint, a source with knowledge of the situation told the Journal Star.Â
The matchups are expected to be finalized over the weekend, likely sometime after the Big Ten's Dec. 12 games are completed.Â
One is already known: The championship game will pit Ohio State against Northwestern after the Big Ten made the decision Wednesday to waive the minimum of six games played in order to qualify. The Buckeyes would have come up a game short after Saturday's rivalry game against Michigan was canceled due to COVID-19 issues in the Wolverines' program. However, because the Buckeyes at 5-0 would have clinched the East regardless of the outcome of that game, Big Ten administrators met Wednesday and agreed to amend the rules, which had been set only three months previously.Â
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Purdue and Indiana also canceled their rivalry game, slated for Saturday, because of a rising number of COVID-19 cases in both programs. That means there would be at least some doubt about whether either of those teams will be ready to play Dec. 19.Â
All of that leaves the rest of the slate for Dec. 19 in a state of flux. Indiana, if it can play, would slot into a game against Iowa as the No. 2 teams on each side. If the Hawkeyes beat Wisconsin this weekend, that game could be for a bid in a prime New Year's Six bowl. If Indiana isn't ready to play, then the picture gets more complicated.Â
Nebraska, as the Journal Star outlined earlier this week, could be in line to match up with Rutgers. That could hold particularly true if the conference decides to eschew its true West/East cross-divisional alignment and reschedule a rivalry game between Wisconsin and Minnesota.
The lineup could look like this:Â
Title game: OSU vs. Northwestern.
No. 2s: Indiana vs. Iowa.
West divisional makeup game: Wisconsin vs. Minnesota.
East divisional makeup game: Maryland vs. Michigan State.
Other crossovers: Nebraska vs. Rutgers, Illinois vs. Penn State and Michigan vs. Purdue. That way, if the Wolverines and Boilermakers are not ready to return to action, only one game is affected.