Boo Corrigan explains Ohio State drop, how to evaluate Buckeyes as others play on championship weekend

When the latest edition of the College Football Playoff rankings were released, Ohio State dropped to No. 6, one spot behind fellow one-loss team Oregon.

But while Oregon will play in a conference championship game, Ohio State will not.

That makes the decision to drop Ohio State past Oregon all the more important, as it means the Buckeyes could very well be on the outside looking in even as conference title game losers drop in the rankings.

CFP selection committee chair Boo Corrigan was asked specifically why Ohio State dropped so far in the rankings.

“Well, again, in looking at it, you’re not looking specifically at one team as much as you are a group of teams and the teams around them and what did they do this past week,” Corrigan said. “Again, specifically Oregon continues to impress, the win over Oregon State, holding a team to seven points that’s averaging 34 points.

“Again, a lot of respect for Ohio State being No. 6. A really good team, but to your point, it’s a one-possession game on the road, but the committee ranked Oregon 5 and Ohio State 6.”

The tricky part now will be figuring out how to evaluate Ohio State against teams that are playing in conference championship games this weekend.

Do you penalize the losers — particularly if it’s a close game this weekend — simply because they earned the right to play an extra game? Does Ohio State benefit from not winning its division and thus being inactive?

It’s not a new phenomenon, but it’s a tricky one.

“Well, again, thank you for the question. It happens in my three years since I’ve been on the committee. It happens every year, something along these lines,” Corrigan said. “Maybe not seven of eight playing in a championship game, but typically there’s one team that does not play, and as we look at it to your point, it is an extra data point that we have and something else that we can look at as we’re evaluating it, and as we said from the very beginning, it’s never one single data point, it’s everything combined, and it’s 13 different people that are all committed to doing it the right way, committed to doing it with integrity and committed to getting it right.”

Not exactly a fully revealing answer, though that’s to be expected with the committee wanting to avoid backing itself into any corners before the games are played.