Gruen: Will Big Ten Get 2 Teams Into College Football Playoff?
By Seth Gruen--
(CBS) The Ohio State Buckeyes have been resuscitated. The College Football Playoff committee has injected life back into a team that thought it might have to get excited about a Rose Bowl.
Without another game to play, No. 6 Ohio State will have to sit and watch others determine whether it will get a chance to defend its national championship. But multiple scenarios allow for the possibility that the Buckeyes will be one of the four teams in the College Football Playoff.
Though a rivalry has developed over the past few years with Michigan State — the Spartans damaged the Buckeyes' national championship chances with a victory in Columbus a couple weekends ago and won the 2013 Big Ten championship between the teams — the Buckeyes will be rooting hard for the Spartans this weekend.
Michigan State (11-1) plays undefeated Iowa (12-0) in the Big Ten title game Saturday in a de facto play-in for the College Football Playoff. The winner goes on. If Iowa is that team, Ohio State (11-1) still has a chance to be ranked in the top four, but a Hawkeyes loss to the Spartans obviously looks better for the Buckeyes' resume.
With Iowa ranked fourth and Michigan State ranked fifth, the loser of that game fall out of contention for the College Football Playoff.
Then it gets a little more confusing in assessing Ohio State's chances of moving into the final four...
The simplest scenario, regardless of the outcome of the Big Ten championship, would be for No. 11 two-loss Florida to beat No. 2 Alabama in the SEC championship. The committee wouldn't take a two-loss team over the Buckeyes. With no other conference champions — that's a primary consideration for the College Football Playoff committee — Ohio State's almost assured to get into the playoff.
If Alabama wins the SEC title game, even more attention turns to Saturday's late ACC championship game between No. 1 Clemson (12-0) and No. 10 North Carolina (11-1). Unquestionably, the Buckeyes would need the Tar Heels to beat the Tigers. That's actually an outcome I expect.
If that happens, Ohio State's fate would be left to the committee's whim. Winning your conference championship is a premium as far as the committee is concerned, so would a win over Clemson allow North Carolina to leapfrog Ohio State? The No. 10 spot is a long way to climb, but it would be a better win than any on the Buckeyes' schedule. North Carolina's lone loss came in Week 1, and it would finish the season on a 12-game winning streak.
Of course, there's one more scenario. The Buckeyes should just pray. Regardless, they'll need a little luck to go their way. Better than being out altogether, I guess.
Seth Gruen is columnist for CBSChicago.com, focusing on college sports. You can follow him on Twitter @SethGruen.
