The Ohio State Buckeyes’ College Football Playoff aspirations hit a brick wall following their double-digit home defeat to Michigan last month. A win for the Buckeyes against the Wolverines would have then clinched them a spot in the Big Ten title game and likely a berth in the College Football Playoff.
Ohio State ended up needing help to sneak into the CFP, and it received just that six days later as Utah came away with a convincing victory over USC in the Pac-12 title game.
In the end, the College Football Playoff selection committee decided to move Ohio State up to the No. 4 spot in the final rankings of the season. For Ohio State head coach Ryan Day, there was a “range of emotions” for his team over the eight-day span from the loss to Michigan up to the CFP selection show.
“I think at the time, it certainly gave us an injection of energy, excitement for sure, coming off of that weekend and into that week,” Day said during a press conference on Friday ahead of the Peach Bowl. “The next week it was a range of emotions.
“It allowed us an opportunity to have great energy and great focus and edge during the month of preparation for sure. So we'll see. We'll see tomorrow night. We'll see where we're at.”
Multiple Ohio State players noted that they felt hefty pressure heading into The Game. For the Buckeyes' upcoming College Football Playoff clash with Georgia, Day does not want his team to once again overwhelm itself with added pressure.
“I just think you go back to your training,” Day said. “You can't focus on things like that. What it comes down to is just playing hard in practice and then going back on your training once you get out there and playing physical with your teammates. There's going to be good plays. There's going to be bad plays, but just going out there and looking up at the scoreboard at the end of the game.
“That's what we're going to do in the game. We're going to play as hard as we possibly can. There will be ups. There will be downs and twists and turns in this game, but play as hard as we can. You can't worry about things like that in a game like this.”
The winner of this showdown between Ohio State and Georgia will face either TCU or Michigan in the College Football Playoff national title game.
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