Buckeyes fall outside College Football Playoff top four following rivalry loss
COLUMBUS — The College Football Playoff committee is leaving the door open for Ohio State to still get in the four-team field.
But the Buckeyes have no way of walking through it themselves. They’ll need one of the top four ahead of them to stumble this weekend.
Following an embarrassing home loss to Michigan in the rivalry game, Ohio State fell to No. 5 in the penultimate CFP rankings, which were released Tuesday night just five days before the four-team field becomes official.
Georgia retained the top spot. The Bulldogs beat out Michigan for No. 1. The Wolverines are at No. 2, while TCU and USC round out the top four ahead of Ohio State.
That’s not a surprising order of teams, at all. What is good news for the Buckeyes is that they’re ahead of two-loss Alabama, which checks in at No. 6, meaning if one-loss USC loses to Utah in the PAC-12 title game on Friday night, the No. 4 seed in the CFP could be up for grabs. And if Kansas State stuns TCU on Saturday, Ohio State could have a real chance to sneak in despite the late-November loss.
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Ohio State coach Ryan Day believes the Buckeyes could be a good choice for the CFP committee to consider.
“I thought we were in it,” Day said. “And we were fighting there at the end. It obviously got out of control down the stretch. But it wasn’t like we were outmatched in terms of just overall play. I don’t think so. As we get to those decisions, I think you got to look at the body of work and what we’ve done, and we got a lot of good pieces on this team. We came up short today.
“But I think if we were able to get a shot at the top four, we’d be a dangerous team.”
Ohio State still has a path to the College Football Playoff and a chance to win a national title. Only problem: the Buckeyes can’t walk down that path. They need someone ahead of them to trip up along the way.
College Football Playoff rankings (Nov. 29)
- Georgia
- Michigan
- TCU
- USC
- Ohio State
- Alabama
- Tennessee
- Penn State
- Clemson
- Kansas State
- Utah
- Washington
- Florida State
- LSU
- Oregon State
- Oregon
- UCLA
- Tulane
- South Carolina
- Texas
- Notre Dame
- Central Florida
- North Carolina
- Mississippi State
- North Carolina State
