Vanderbilt backs out non-conference games with a letter

Paul Myerberg, USA TODAY Sports | USATODAY

Vanderbilt has backed out of 2013 non-conference games against Ohio State and Northwestern, both times doing so in the most old-fashioned way possible: with a letter.

"Vanderbilt officials made the decision without so much as a phone call to [Northwestern] officials," a Big Ten source told Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune.

"Ohio State is looking for a new opponent to start the 2013 football season after Vanderbilt sent a letter to the Buckeyes on Tuesday backing out of the game scheduled for Aug. 31, 2013," wrote Doug Lesmerises of The Plain Dealer.

In the case of Northwestern, which beat the Commodores in September, Vanderbilt backed out of games in both 2013 and 2014.

The timing of the Commodores' letters can be tied into the release of the SEC's 2013 schedule, which was issued on Thursday. For example, instead of playing the Buckeyes on Aug. 31, Vanderbilt is scheduled to host Mississippi.

"Very disappointed that it happened this way," Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith told The Plain Dealer. "We have 11 months, and we didn't get a phone call, we just got a letter. So I'm very disappointed in that. I would have preferred a phone call as opposed to a form letter, but that's just the way it is."

In most cases, backing out a scheduled meeting comes with a buyout. For the two-game Northwestern series, a league source told Greenstein that the buyout was "not prohibitive."

But Vanderbilt will not owe Ohio State a buyout fee since the 2013 date was a one-time affair, not a home-and-home series. However, Vanderbilt's decision will cost the university $1.2 million, which Ohio State was paying the Commodores to come to Ohio Stadium.

Let's step back and focus on the one ridiculous aspect of this story, because these sort of scheduling snafus are more common than one might think:

Vanderbilt backed out of a pair of future games against Big Ten competition by sending a letter. Not a phone call, not an email, not even a text, but a letter. I thought the Big Ten was the league stuck behind the times?