Ohio State trying to avoid another upset against Spartans

The bitter rivals are now ranked No. 2 and No. 3 in the College Football Playoff standings, making the matchup one of the most compelling in years. The best wins of the year are Ohio State at Oklahoma, Ohio State at Wisconsin, Pittsburgh at Clemson, Michigan at Penn State and USC at Washington. Things are getting awkward and bookies have stopped answering their phones.

The Wolverines (9-1, 6-1 Big Ten) stayed at No. 3 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings, despite suffering their first loss of the season a week ago, but can’t afford another slip-up before the big showdown with Ohio State.

Take a breath; I’ll simplify it for you: If chalk wins over the final two weeks of the regular season (Ohio State will be favored over Michigan), Wisconsin and Penn State would play for the conference championship.

What about MI, you ask? WSU also could secure a spot in the conference title game on Saturday with a win against Colorado and a UW loss to ASU.

Michigan State looked good last week, but it was against a very poor Rutgers team.

Prediction: Ohio State beats MI.

It is a less than ideal situation for such a big game with so much on the line but there is nothing that can be done to change what Mother Nature wants to bring on Saturday.

They always say that chaos lurks in November for college football, and this year was no different. “He’s an outstanding leader”, Dantonio said on a Big Ten coaches teleconference.

The Spartans are sitting at 3-7 on the season, have suffered a seven-game losing streak before bouncing back last week against Rutgers in a big way. “The selection committee is very impressed with the past two games that we’ve seen Ohio State play, their performance on the field (in 62-3 wins over Nebraska and Maryland)”.

Both coaches, Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh and Ohio State’s Urban Meyer, said earlier this week that they were not overly concerned with the current rankings.

A Wisconsin Big Ten champ is problematic. Six teams in the top 15 lost, including three out of four teams in the playoff. In other news, Ohio State, Alabama and Louisville continued to dominate although Louisville started out slow.

■ Michigan State has won three of the last five over Ohio State, including the 2013 Big Ten Championship game. The Buckeyes look to avenge last year’s loss to the Spartans on Saturday in East Lansing.

Meyer is preaching, just as he’s done all season, one game at a time. Defensively, Ohio State is holding opponents to just 12.7 points and 274.4 yards per game. First, the undefeated and second ranked Clemson Tigers went down in Death Valley 43-42, after a long 48-yard field goal from Pitt to pull off the upset.

Coaching: Ohio State – Meyer has never, in his career, had a year like Dantonio is experiencing now. The only other shake up that could occur which I haven’t mentioned is if Washington wins the Pac12.

The committee likes Ohio State and MI better than Louisville at this point.

But none of that will mean anything once the smoke clears and conference kings are crowned.

Last weekend’s results across the Football Bowl Subdivision illustrated how even the best-laid plans are no match for college football’s inevitable and annual descent into pandemonium.