As the College Football Playoff selection committee makes its final determinations next weekend of which four teams should get to play for the national championship this year, the committee won’t just be looking at whether Ohio State defeats Northwestern in this weekend’s Big Ten Championship Game, but how impressive the Buckeyes look in the process.
In a season where the Buckeyes have played only five games, leaving some to question whether they belong in the playoff even though they’re undefeated, Saturday will be their final chance to make a statement to the committee that they are one of the four best teams in the country.
They don’t seem too concerned, though, about needing to rack up style points against Northwestern on Saturday. During their interview sessions with reporters on Sunday afternoon, Ohio State coach Ryan Day, quarterback Justin Fields and defensive end Jonathon Cooper all indicated that they believe their team will be selected for the CFP as long as they win the Big Ten title.
“I think we’re in the top four best teams in the country for sure, and I think we control our destiny,” Fields said. “So if we go out there on Saturday and handle business where we’re supposed to, I think we should be where we want to be.”
Day isn’t a fan of the concept of style points, saying Sunday that “I don’t think there’s any other sport in the world where anything other than winning matters.”
“If you were to win by one point in the NFL every week, you’d go undefeated, you win the Super Bowl, that’s all that matters,” Day said.
But although he acknowledges that can be a factor in college football because of the playoff selection process, he doesn’t want his team to be thinking about that. If the Buckeyes worry about trying to blow out Northwestern, they could lose focus on what they need to do just to win the game.
“All we’re going to do is worry about winning, and doing the best we can taking it one play at a time. Talked to the team about that this week,” Day said. “If we start to go into a game and try to do anything other than just win one play at a time, you can get yourself sideways. So we’ll just focus on that, one play at a time, and then at the end of the game, we’ll look up and see where we’re at.”
The good news for Ohio State is its path to the playoff looks to be clearer than it was going into this weekend, even though the Buckeyes didn’t get to play on Saturday. With Florida suffering its second loss of the season against LSU on Saturday, the possibility of Florida jumping Ohio State if its beats Alabama in next week’s SEC Championship Game looks far less likely, and there aren’t any other strong candidates to knock the Buckeyes out of the top four as long as they win the Big Ten championship and remain unbeaten.
There have been some vocal critics of Ohio State’s short schedule over the past few days, including Clemson coach Dabo Swinney and Florida coach Dan Mullen, who have both said they believe the teams who have played more games should be rewarded over a team who will play just six games before the playoff field is set.
Cooper acknowledged that the Buckeyes have seen what people are saying about them and that it does give them more motivation. But rather than getting into a war of words with their critics, Cooper said he believes the Buckeyes need to focus on what they control and demonstrating on the field that they’re a playoff-caliber team.
“As a team, we like to just go out there and just prove that we’re one of the best teams in the country,” Cooper said. “Our whole focus is beating Northwestern and proving that we are one of those teams.”
“I think we’re in the top four best teams in the country for sure, and I think we control our destiny.”– Justin Fields
Fields said he isn’t worried about what other coaches are saying about the Buckeyes “because at the end of the day, those people that are saying those things, they don’t make the decision that we go to the College Football Playoff.” Day said he’s “not gonna get caught up in the emotion of it all,” recognizing that every coach “has their team’s back and they want to fight for their team and that’s great.”
That said, Day doesn’t believe there should be any question that his team belongs in the playoff if it beats Northwestern.
“Everyone can talk and have their opinions, but at the end of the day, what matters is how well we play on Saturday,” Day said. “If we play well, we move on. We know that in our heart. And that’s just what matters. This team is very, very talented. This team has great potential. This team can play with anybody in the country. And that’s the facts. To be undefeated and to win the Big Ten championship, that speaks for itself.”
