Saturday, September 6 was a brutal day of college football for the Big Ten. Oregon rallied to beat Michigan State, Notre Dame destroyed Michigan, and an unranked Virginia Tech marched into Ohio Stadium and dropped the No. 8 Buckeyes, 35–21.
As far as showings go, it was about as bad as it could get for the league. At the time, only Jim Delany really saw a "path" for a Big Ten team to make the field, and well, he's paid to think things like that.
It's okay if you didn't think the Buckeyes (or Spartans) would make it, either. Not many of us did. But to come out in early September and say the Big Ten was absolutely, positively not going to make the playoff? That's just dumb.
College football is too beautiful, twisted and complex for any of us to lock down at any point, much less two games into the season. But there were brave writers – paid to write about college football – who ventured to do just that.
Presenting the 2014 All-Hyperbole Team, led by senior captain...
The Big Ten is officially eliminated from placing a team in the playoff. It is September 6th.
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravisBGID) September 7, 2014
How the Big Ten Took Itself out of the Playoff in Two Weeks: http://t.co/AuEfT9rkMj
— RichMcVey (@RichMcVey) September 7, 2014
So the B1G is 6 minutes away from being knocked out of the Playoff. #Section91
— Braden Gall (@BradenGall) September 7, 2014
College Football Playoff committee is off the hook. Big Ten just excused itself from consideration. MSU, OSU, Michigan all lost today.
— Tom Oates (@TomOatesWSJ) September 7, 2014
Two weeks into the season, can you all but scratch the Big Ten out of the College Football Playoff? Sure looks that way.
— Chris Low (@ClowESPN) September 7, 2014
The Big Ten has officially been eliminated from the CFB Playoff on just the second weekend of the season.
— CC Machine (@CCMachine) September 7, 2014
If any fan of a Big Ten team advocates the inclusion of a Big Ten team into the College Football Playoff, you're getting instantly blocked.
— Scott Bell (@sbell021) September 7, 2014
The Big Ten eliminated itself from the CFB Playoff on Saturday. It's all but fact. http://t.co/N0wogJImDX
— Bill Bender (@BillBender92) September 7, 2014
And the Big Ten is officially eliminated from consideration for the College Football Playoff.
— Mark Berman (@BermanRoanoke) September 7, 2014
To the credit of the Big Ten, at least they waited until September to completely eliminate themselves from playoff contention
— Aaron Torres (@Aaron_Torres) September 7, 2014
Here's Athlon going all in with not just a tweet, but an article on the topic:
How the Big Ten took itself out of the Playoff in two weeks: http://t.co/Ioy83I9vz3 pic.twitter.com/yJiI98eS9s
— Athlon Sports (@AthlonSports) September 7, 2014
This one is amazing for the fact that he's still going hard, a full six weeks after the Virginia Tech loss (via @msmaldino):
No, Ohio State, you don't get to be in the College Football Playoff. Not if you win the rest of your games by 100.
— Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_CJ) October 24, 2014
Okay, this guy isn't really paid to write about football, but you need to pay your debt, Top Cheddar #2.
Biased opinion to the max, if Ohio state makes the 4 team playoff then I'll deactivate. pic.twitter.com/TeI8LSpI4j
— Top Cheddar #2 (@zeke_webb02) September 7, 2014
If you are a writer and want to know how to handle this situation the next time it comes up, let SI's Andy Staples show you the way.
No team is eliminated from the playoff after one loss, and therefore no conference is eliminated on Sept. 6.
— Andy Staples (@Andy_Staples) September 7, 2014
Correction: A previous version of this story included a tweet from Barrett Sallee. While the tweet strongly implied Ohio State's chances were over, the video linked in the tweet did, in fact, point out a way a Big Ten team could make the playoff.
