BuckeyesNow to Host Virtual Ohio State Football Season Simulation

The reality is setting in. Despite all of the protests, the petitions on the internet and the lawsuits that have been threatened (and in one case, actually filed by eight Nebraska football players), there won't be Buckeye football this fall ... at least not when six other FBS conferences are going to kick off.

After taking a little time to run through the full gamut of emotions associated with that, BuckeyesNow came up with a fun solution.

Beginning one week from today on Saturday, September 5, we are going to create some fun content for you! We are going to simulate the condensed season for you week-by-week on EA Sports NCAA Football 14, the most recent version of the popular college football video game!

We have updated the rosters to reflect the 2020 teams in college football, so Buckeye fans can at least get a mini-fix for "what could have been" this year.

Since the earliest rumored start date for a real football season to kick off is Thanksgiving week (which would be Saturday, November 28), we will simulate the 10-game schedule that the Big Ten scrapped only six days after announcing it. Should the Buckeyes make it through in the simulation, we'll have a Big Ten title game and a couple weeks for College Football Playoff games.

But it doesn't just start and stop with simulating a game. We're going all out.

We will publish game previews and have some fun betting-themed content in the days leading up to the games. Each game will be played on consecutive Saturdays over the course of ten weeks, starting on Saturday, September 5 against Illinois (instead of their scheduled Thursday night contest). Each game we play will "kick off" at 12 p.m. eastern time.

We'll post a written recap from the simulated game and include a highlight package with voiced over content to tell you what happened and how the virtual season is progressing. We'll make it as real as possible for you, and hopefully that means it will be fun to follow!

We know it isn't the real thing and it's impossible to fill the void of real Ohio State football in your life, but we are going to try and make the best of a terrible situation. E-sports have taken off in our country, so why not have a little fun with an Ohio State season?

The season opens up one week from today against Illinois at 12 p.m. eastern time. We hope you'll join us along the way!

Stay tuned to BuckeyesNow and all of our social media outlets (@BuckeyesNowSI) on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for continued coverage!