Look at the board and that two-loss mess starting at No. 10.
Which school do you think would benefit the most from chaos in the College Football Playoff rankings? It's a familiar choice. A popular choice. A school that has been down this road a few times.
MORE: How Buckeyes react to Iowa loss is worth watching
No. 13 Ohio State blasted No. 12 Michigan State 48-3 on Saturday at Ohio Stadium and took control of the Big Ten East Division with two conference games to go.
The showdown with the Spartans was over shortly after it started. Ohio State had a 14-0 lead and 102 rushing yards after one quarter. J.T. Barrett led five scoring drives for a 35-3 lead by halftime; the last an 82-yard touchdown run by Mike Weber that served as a de facto knockout punch. Michigan State didn't convert a third down in the first quarter and settled for a last-minute field goal through that barrage. Clearly, Urban Meyer got the message across in practice this week.
Good bye, Sparty. That was made clear. And you, Brutus?
The Buckeyes are reborn again, re-established as the Big Ten East favorite and the best bet to get to Indianapolis out of that loaded division. The blowout is an eye-catcher, too. What does that does that mean for Ohio State (8-2, 7-1) in terms of the College Football Playoff race?
The board sets up favorably for the Buckeyes among the teams that entered the weekend with two losses. No. 10 Auburn and No. 11 USC are the best competition among those teams. No. 9 Washington has two losses now, too. Recency bias could put the Buckeyes ahead of all those teams, especially if the Tigers lose to No. 1 Georgia. At minimum, Ohio State is back in the top 10 with more chances to pile on big victories over the next three weeks.
Ohio State can still beat Michigan in the regular-season finale and No. 8 Wisconsin if it comes to that in the Big Ten championship game. So, the Buckeyes could have wins against Penn State, Michigan State, Michigan and Wisconsin if they win out.
Would that be enough to undo the 55-24 loss at Iowa or the 31-16 loss against Oklahoma? Not by itself. Ohio State still needs major shakeups among the nine Power 5 teams that have one loss or fewer to even get near that No. 4 spot. Well, at least two are going down Saturday with No. 5 Oklahoma vs. No. 6 TCU and No. 3 Notre Dame vs. No. 7 Miami. That's free-of-charge chaos, enough to wiggle the Buckeyes back into that "first four out" territory at No. 7 or No. 8.
MORE: Ohio State, Penn State losses wreck BIg Ten's title hopes
Remember, this committee has already shown a pattern of caring more about who teams beat than who they lose to or what the win-loss record is. Otherwise, there's no way three-loss Northwestern makes the top 25 last week and Michigan does not.
That's just part of the reason why the Buckeyes have postseason hope.
We've seen this movie twice. Ohio State was ranked No. 5 in Week 14 in 2014 and ended up leaping TCU and Baylor in the final rankings. The Buckeyes stayed at No. 2 last season and didn't drop past No. 3 despite losing head-to-head to Penn State and not winning the Big Ten championship. If any team were to get the benefit of the doubt down the line. …
You already know the answer. For the conspiracy theorists, here is a look at the most watched regular season games of the 2017 season, according to Sports Media Watch:
| RANK | GAME | RATING |
| 1 | Alabama-Florida State (Sept. 2) | 6.9 |
| 2 | Penn State-Ohio State (Oct. 28) | 5.75 |
| 3 | Michigan-Florida (Sept. 2) | 4.9 |
| 4 | Oklahoma-Ohio State (Sept. 9) | 4.6 |
| 5 | LSU-Alabama (Nov. 4) | 3.9 |
MORE: Big Ten East too good for its own good
Miami-Notre Dame will join that list, but so will Ohio State-Michigan. Ohio State always is a popular choice. Always.
But it comes down to what they can do on the field, and it took advantage of the latest opportunity against the Spartans. It was emphatic, too.
If anybody can throw its weight back into the conversation, then it's Ohio State. It should feel familiar when you look at the board. You've seen it before.
It happens all the time.
