MI and Ohio State’s Rivalry Trumps Playoff Contention

Ask yourself this question, though. But it still remains that there is no one-loss team from a Power-5 conference ranked lower than fifth.

The obvious hitch is that No. 2 and No. 3 play each other this week in what appears to be an elimination game in Columbus. The game also helped decide the victor of the Big Ten for the next 11 years. The only other team with a possible case to be had for inclusion in this week’s top four was Washington, which bounced back from its only loss, to Southern California, with a smooth win against Arizona State.

“LSU is a very talented team that I don’t think any of our coaches (on the committee) would want to play if they were still coaching today”, Hocutt said.

I asked Hocutt if he could envision a day – say, maybe December 4 – when a three-loss team would get into the four-team bracket? And it’s true that if the Gators beat Florida State and then Alabama in the SEC championship, they’d probably get into the Playoff. Clemson or Washington and 4. If a team started off 0-5, with say four “good” losses, then looked unstoppable on a six game winning streak against their conference, would they deserve a spot in the playoff?

Ohio State will see the nation’s top-ranked defense after windy conditions forced the Buckeyes to take to the ground to beat Michigan State 17-16 last Saturday.

If Penn State wins the Big Ten, it would be champion of the toughest conference in football, and it would have a head-to-head win over Ohio State. Lose to MI, and it might come to swallowing that pride and rooting for MI to beat the Big Ten West champion.

But if Washington doesn’t lose again, there will be a lot of nerves for both programs leading into the final CFP selections. The Buckeyes would have a legitimate claim to that No. 4 spot. But if MI loses to the Buckeyes, or even in the conference title game, I don’t know if they get in. As an Ohio native who grew up watching this game, he recognizes the history and importance of Michigan-Ohio State. Stanford beat Rice to finish 9-3, Washington State goes on to win the Pac-12 after beating USC in the title game to finish 10-3, and Utah beat Colorado so both teams finish 9-3. From there, hope the Buckeyes win the Big Ten and bank on the same chaos. Colorado is also on pace to play Washington in the title game, and either one will lose there or before getting there.

Here is a look at this week’s CFP rankings top 10 and each team’s best path to the College Football Playoff. That includes 22 times the teams decided the champion between themselves (most recently Ohio State’s 14-6 win over MI in 2007).

If Michigan State has as shot to pull off the upset over No. 8 Penn State this week and close an otherwise hard season on a high note, odds are it will do so on the ground. “When he carries it we have to make sure he feels us, feels the presence we’ve got and just make sure we don’t let him beat us”. O’Corn also will face a stout Ohio State defense that’s given up just 12 touchdowns this season and allowed only four rushing TDs. Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh is looking at the match as a championship game between the two squads. The committee can see that.