Scarlet Sunrise: Buckeyes watching Championship Saturday with renewed CFP hope
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No. 11 Utah upsets No. 4 USC in Pac-12 Championship
Well, it happened.
Ohio State got the help it needed Friday night. From the team it beat in the Rose Bowl last season.
No. 11 Utah upset No. 4 USC in the Pac-12 Championship, 47-24, handing the Trojans their second loss of the season. USC shot out to a 17-3 advantage and had a chance to extend that lead early in the second quarter but couldn’t convert on 4th-and-8 from the Utah 37-yard line. That’s when the game changed.
Utah orchestrated a touchdown drive on the ensuing series, and the Utes’ defense slowed a high-powered Trojans offense, namely Heisman Trophy candidate Caleb Williams — who was limited with a hamstring injury in the second half — the rest of the way. Williams still finished with 363 passing yards and a trio of scores, however, his valiant effort wasn’t enough to compensate for an abysmal defensive performance by USC, which was marred by missed tackles.
Utah also beat USC in a mid-October, 43-42 thriller with a two-point conversion.
Utes quarterback Cameron Rising — who withstood a jarring hit in the third quarter of Friday’s conference title game and posted 310 passing yards and three touchdowns in the victory — is a hero in Columbus.
So is longtime Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham. Former Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer had this exchange with Whittingham on FOX’s postgame show:
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Meyer: “I got a feeling, Kyle, in Columbus, Ohio, you’re not gonna have to pay for a meal for a while.”
Whittingham: “Coach Day, you’re welcome.”
So what does this mean for the Buckeyes?
- Ohio State no longer controlled its College Football Playoff destiny when it suffered its embarrassing 45-23 loss to now-No. 2 Michigan in Ohio Stadium last weekend. With that defeat — the program’s second straight to the Wolverines and first in the series at home since 2000 — the Buckeyes lost out on the chance to play in the Big Ten Championship, which meant they had to watch and pray.
- Ohio State dropped from No. 2 to No. 5 in the CFP rankings Tuesday. That’s significant because, even though the Buckeyes slid out of the top four, they were ahead of two-loss Alabama, which clocked in at No. 6. Like Ohio State, Alabama isn’t playing in Championship Weekend. The SEC title game this year is between No. 1 Georgia and No. 14 LSU.
- Remember, no two-loss team has made the CFP since it debuted during the 2014 season. All signs point to Ohio State grabbing the No. 4 spot, currently occupied by a now-two-loss-USC, not Alabama. Ohio State’s best wins are at No. 8 Penn State and versus No. 21 Notre Dame. Meanwhile, the Crimson Tide’s best wins are at No. 20 Texas and against No. 24 Mississippi State, both eight-win teams.
- It appeared as if Ohio State was trending toward playing in the Orange Bowl against the ACC champion (either Clemson or UNC), but now the Buckeyes are looking like a good bet to back their way into the CFP. It would be their fifth appearance and the third in Day’s head coaching tenure. If Ohio State does indeed sneak in, the team won’t experience the opt-outs it otherwise likely would have in a non-CFP bowl game.
Ohio State players react to Utah’s win over USC
What to watch for today?
BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP: No. 3 TCU vs. No. 10 Kansas State (12 p.m., ABC)
- With a TCU loss, the Horned Frogs most likely would drop to No. 4, which means that, assuming Ohio State is in the CFP now, the Buckeyes could be the No. 3 seed. And, yes, that could set up a rematch with Michigan in the CFP semifinal.
SEC CHAMPIONSHIP: No. 1 Georgia vs. No. 14 LSU (4 p.m., CBS)
BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP: No. 2 Michigan vs. Purdue (8 p.m., FOX)
- The Purdue “Spoilermakers”: Under head coach Jeff Brohm, Purdue is 3-0 against top-three teams. An upset of Michigan in the Big Ten Championship game almost certainly wouldn’t boot Michigan from the four-team CFP field, but it could alter the playoff seeding.
ACC CHAMPIONSHIP: No. 9 Clemson vs. No. 23 UNC (8 p.m., ABC)
Counting down
Buckeyes vs. Michigan: 358 days
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