The game plan for Ohio State and Michigan State over the next two months: win big every week – and leave no doubt.
With that plan, the Nov. 21 game in Columbus between the teams will be more about College Football Playoff placement than an elimination game. In theory, anyway.
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It’s still early, but we’re beginning to see some trends that could be reinforced over the final two weeks of September. Auburn has problems, UCLA doesn’t. Notre Dame is down to its third string quarterback (Deshone Kizer was behind injured Malik Zaire in spring practice, and behind now-transferred second-string Everett Golson), and Alabama might have found one.
A look at Four In/Four Out for the College Football Playoff field after Week 2:
Four In
1. Ohio State: A laugher over Hawaii, but an impressive day for the defense. No concerns just yet, and with that awful schedule, how could there be on the horizon? Up next: vs. Northern Illinois.
2. Alabama: Jake Coker is getting more comfortable as the Tide starting quarterback, but now gets his first true test against a team that has scored more than 70 points in each of its first two games. If Ole Miss continues to put up points on the Alabama defense (and big IF), that means Coker and the Tide offense are under pressure to do the same. Up next: vs. Ole Miss.
3. Michigan State: From now until the end of the season, the Spartans will have the best non-conference win of any team in the nation. That’s a big chess piece in the grand CFP scheme. A core of key seniors is leading this team, and can’t allow a natural letdown next weekend to unfold. Up next: vs. Air Force.
4. Baylor: Here’s the problem with Baylor: the Bears are so good on offense we ignore the holes on defense. Or is this the typical Baylor defense that waits until the big moment to play its best? Up next: vs. Rice.
Four Out
5. TCU: At the very least, we’ll have an indication after this week of the difference between Baylor and TCU in non-conference play. But don’t think that won’t eliminate the argument of who played whom on the road or at home. It’s coming, you just know it is. Up next: vs. SMU.
6. UCLA: Now we get to see what Josh Rosen is all about. It’s one thing to play well against Virginia and UNLV; it’s another to do it against an experienced BYU defense and a suddenly hot quarterback. Up next: vs. BYU.
7. Notre Dame: As we’ve seen before with Irish coach Brian Kelly, he’s not going to limit his playbook because he has a new quarterback. Kizer will be under the same demands that Zaire was. Up next: vs. Georgia Tech.
8. USC: Playtime is over for USC. Time to see what the Trojans can do in a game that matters. Especially a game (a team: Stanford) they have struggled to score on of late. Up next: vs. Stanford.