Something I've been thinking about a lot lately, basically since shit hit the fan in mid March and sports got canceled. I'm no medical expert, but it seems unlikely from where I'm standing that by the fall we will be in a position as a country where we can have gatherings of 80,000+ people shoulder to shoulder yelling and cheering and spewing air at each other's faces. It seems more likely that when we have football (it seems a "when," not an "if" for now, given the considerable will by fans, the NCAA, and programs to attempt a season) we will either have reduced capacity, socially-distanced stadiums, or we will have empty stadiums with no fans at all. 

Let me submit to you a #hottake: this is a good thing if you want to see Ohio State return to the playoffs. Why? 

Well, we've known for a while now that Ohio State's 2020 schedule was a two, maybe (if Michigan shows up) three game schedule. Aside from Michigan, who will most likely come into the game ranked in the top 10 and hilariously overconfident only to get sonned again (you love to see it, again and again), the only two scheduled teams who pose a serious threat to Ohio State are Oregon and Penn State. It so happens both of those games are road games. It also happens that both of those venues are famously raucous environments where crowd noise is a serious factor for visiting teams. 

Take away the crowd noise and it really becomes a matter of coaching, talent, and luck. Can't do anything about luck, but the first two are both decidedly in Ohio State's favor in both matchups. 

Look, I'm not saying I prefer empty stadiums. 90% of the appeal of college football is the pageantry, and if you take away the crowds you lose a lot of that. 

That said, do I really care if we don't have to suffer through another Whiteout nailbiter? No, I don't. 

And while not seeing the Oregon Ducks' faithful show up and show out to host our Buckeyes will be a sadly missed spectacle, I'm also okay with our guys pounding the Ducks into the dirt to the soundtrack of absolute silence punctuated only by referee's whistles and Coach Coombs clapping and shouting.