If not for Ohio State during the summer and fall, there’s a good chance the B1G football season would’ve been canceled in 2020. Who knows what that might have meant for other athletic programs in the conference.

Players, parents, coaches and administrators continued to push to have a season. And when the B1G reversed its decision and reinstated a fall football season, the Buckeyes took on the task of playing through a pandemic pretty seriously.

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Head men’s basketball coach Chris Holtmann is pretty grateful for the way the football program handled business in the middle of the pandemic.

“Their players, their coaches, their entire program set a terrific, positive tone on all of us who are currently playing,” Holtmann said, per Dan Hope of Eleven Warriors. “Just in the way they went about COVID and handling COVID and performing and their enthusiasm and passion for playing.”

Ohio State’s football team didn’t waste the opportunity to play this fall. The Buckeyes ended the year with a 7-1 record, winning another B1G title and competing for a national championship.

The Buckeyes basketball team has been pretty good, as well. Ohio State is ranked No. 4 in the country with an 18-5 record on the season and just recently enjoyed a seven-game winning streak.

Teams in Columbus have made the most of the opportunity to play during the 2020-21 academic year. Holtmann credits the football team for getting it all started.