Ohio State’s Mike Weber poked Michigan State’s Montae Nicholson’s face mask after a 22-yard run in the second quarter, but he might well have poked everybody else doubting its College Football Playoff path.
That’s what the Buckeyes are doing to do the playoff committee. They are sticking that finger in the face of Penn State, who could get to Indianapolis, win the Big Ten championship and still finish behind the Buckeyes, who they beat on the field. They are sticking that finger in the face of the potential Pac-12 and Big 12 champions.
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Weber wasn’t called for the penalty, and the Buckeyes won’t drop out of the top four with a victory against Michigan. Ohio State will probably stay in that No. 2 spot this week, and they’ll make the College Football Playoff as a one-loss team. The best way for the Buckeyes to be left out would be losing either next week or in the Big Ten championship against Wisconsin or whoever wins the Big Ten West if it comes to that.
The Buckeyes beat Michigan State 17-16 in East Lansing on Saturday and avenged Urban Meyer’s only November loss since taking over at Ohio State in the process. That’s right, Meyer is now 13-1 in November and 48-8 as a head coach in November, and four of those losses were at Bowling Green.
Everything else doesn’t matter. Ohio State’s J.T. Barrett struggled in the air by going 10 of 22 passing for 86 yards. Doesn’t matter. Michigan State could have won had they hit a two-point conversion. Doesn’t matter. The weather, Barrett’s carries, Curtis Samuel’s carries and every other nugget directed at Ohio State. None of that matters.
Ohio State controlled what they could control, especially with a run-heavy ground attack that averaged 5.3 yards per carry. Barrett (24 carries, 105 yards), Weber (14 carries, 111 yards, TD) and Samuel (four carries, 13 yards) did the damage on the ground, and Samuel caught Barrett’s lone touchdown pass.
Weber gave the Buckeyes the go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter, and they survived from there. Michigan State might not have gone for two in that situation if they weren’t in 3-7-season-maker-mode. Erick Smith made the game-saving interception on a play that was reminiscent of Michigan going for two against the Buckeyes in 2013.
Ohio State lost this game in November last year. As a result the Buckeyes were the one-loss team without a conference championship that didn’t get in, even if they might have done some damage if they did. Now Ohio State Buckeyes could put the College Football Playoff committee in that huge dilemma about letting a team in without a conference championship.
That’s exactly what they’ll do if the Buckeyes beat Michigan next week. Ohio State has one loss, and it’ll be treated differently than everybody else. The Buckeyes will be treated like the best bet to unseat No. 1 Alabama, which is what they are. They’re putting that finger in everybody’s face, and they’re going to dare the committee to leave them out. That’s going to be hard to do as long as they stay in the No. 2 spot.
Good luck saying no.
