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The Ohio State Buckeyes suffered a disappointing loss to the Michigan Wolverines 42-27 on Saturday.
Ohio State came into this matchup #2 in the country. Michigan came in at #5. Everybody knew that the winner of this game was going to solidify themselves a spot in the College Football Playoffs. Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, they suffered a tough loss in Week 2 to the Oregon Ducks 35-28. A two-loss team usually never makes the college football playoff but there are a few reasons why Ohio State should get a nod over certain teams.
3 Reasons Why Ohio State Should Be In Th CFP
3. Their schedule
The Big Ten is arguably the toughest conference in football week in and week out. Ohio State has impressive wins this season against Indiana, Penn State, Nebraska, Purdue, and a 56-7 win against at the time number 7 Michigan State. This is arguably a tougher schedule than what the SEC plays. Their two losses this season are to a top-four team now in Michigan and an Oregon team who was number three in the country just a week ago before a disappointing loss.
Even with two losses, Ohio State has had to play some tough games. It would be unfair to leave them off because other teams get to play worse opponents.
2. If Michigan and Alabama lose in the conference championship
If Alabama was to lose to Georgia in the SEC title game, then Ohio State should have every chance to get back into the college football playoff. Alabama lost at the time to an unranked Texas A&M team while giving up 41 points. They do have some impressive wins early on in the season but most of the ranked teams that they beat are no longer ranked and have disappointing losses throughout the whole year. They only beat the University of Florida by two points, and quite frankly, should have lost the game. This is a Florida team who has losses to South Carolina and also gave up 52 points to Samford. If Alabama loses there is no reason why they should be a top-four team in the country.
If Michigan loses there could be more of a debate on what should happen for the final spot. There are some outside teams like Oklahoma State and others who definitely have deserving backgrounds. The BIG 12 is weak and that has shown through the past few playoffs and throughout this season. A two-loss Big Ten team is certainly better than a one-loss BIG 12 team. Michigan also has impressive wins this season over Ohio State, Washington, and Penn State in Happy Valley. It would be shocking if they did end up losing the conference title game because they are either going up against Iowa or Wisconsin, two teams that they are significantly better than.
Despite losing to Michigan, Ohio State looked better than them for 90% of the season. If Michigan gets its second loss there's a good chance that Ohio State jumps them. They should be in due to how well that they played for over 11 weeks of the season.
1. Cincinnati is not better than them
At some point, the committee has to put Cincinnati into the playoffs. They have been impressive all season but unfortunately for them, they play in the American Athletic Conference and have only played one ranked team all season in Notre Dame. They'll have another test next week where they take on the University of Houston. If they can come away with a commanding win then they should be the team that gets the fourth spot due to being undefeated. If the committee wants to stay true to their word and put the four best teams in the country into the playoffs, then Ohio State needs to be one of those four teams.
Realistically, if Cincinnati was to play Ohio State or any of the other top teams in the Big Ten, they would lose by two-plus touchdowns. It is the same that we have seen in the past few years when Oklahoma takes on Alabama. The SEC is just a different breed than the BIG 12. This is the same example here with Ohio State. The Big Ten is just simply better than the American Conference. There is really no debating this. There is a reason why the Big Ten has so many teams who are ranked year in and year out. If 90% of Big Ten teams played the schedule that Cincinnati played, they might have one loss and that would be to Notre Dame.
If any team loses in the top-5 next week, Ohio State certainly deserves a chance to compete for a national title. They have looked like the best team in college football besides Georgia for all year besides this one game against Michigan. If the college football committee wants to put the best teams in the playoffs, then they need to have Ohio State in the final four.
