For over a month, the debate surrounding Ohio State’s postseason hopes has been centered on whether or not it’s a “win-and-they’re-in” type of situation for a team that played just six games ahead of the College Football Playoff selection committee’s final decisions.
Most analysts entering this weekend believed that to be the case. Yet on Saturday most of the focus was justifiably on whether or not the Buckeyes would actually win in the first place.
Ohio State, putting the win-and-they’re-in theory to the test, went a full half without a touchdown for the first time since its 2018 debacle in West Lafayette, Indiana, that ended as a 28-point loss to Purdue. They trailed by four points at halftime and didn’t manage to pull ahead until a Trey Sermon touchdown run put the Buckeyes on top. From there, they edged out Northwestern for a 22-10 victory, taking home the Big Ten championship in less-convincing fashion than they would have preferred.
So, now that it’s over, is a new slogan – won and they’re in – applicable for their situation? It would appear so.
Provided the selection committee doesn’t have a complete, last-minute change of heart about Ohio State, the players and coaches on the 6-0 conference champion should be able to breathe easily as the playoff field gets revealed during the fateful Sunday afternoon show on ESPN. The Buckeyes were ranked No. 4 in Tuesday’s second-to-last reveal, and it’s exceedingly difficult to imagine them slipping out of the top-four after winning the Big Ten – even if it did so in an uglier-than-preferred performance.
Clemson already rolled past Notre Dame, effectively clinching a top-two seed. If Alabama beats Florida, it’ll hang onto the No. 1 spot, and if it loses it’ll still be in the playoff field. Ohio State and Notre Dame, in all likelihood, will take the other two spots.
As an undefeated Big Ten champion that has beaten No. 11 Indiana and No. 14 Northwestern, the Buckeyes should feel confident they won’t get passed over. The best options outside of those four teams would be undefeated Cincinnati, the two-loss Gators – if they beat Alabama – and one-loss Texas A&M. The committee has kept Ohio State ahead of all three so far, and that shouldn’t change when the reveal happens on Sunday. In fact, the biggest question of the day for the Buckeyes should be whether they’d get Clemson or Alabama in the semifinal rather than whether they’re in the field or not.
It’s certainly fair to include head coach Ryan Day among those who believe his team to be ready for the College Football Playoff.
“All I'm going to say is this,” Day said. “People can say whatever they want. They have their opinions. I'm not going to talk about other teams because I think we have enough to talk about positively about our program, but I'll say this. If we have an opportunity to play anybody in the country in one game, I'm going to take the Ohio State Buckeyes. I feel strongly about this team. We're made of unbelievable character, and they've been through so much. I think there's a lot of people in the country that would agree with me.”
And those people he referred to includes his team’s sixth-year senior linebacker, Justin Hilliard, who recorded a team-high nine tackles to go along with an interception and fumble record in the Big Ten title game.
The adversity the Buckeyes have faced, Hilliard says, shows why they belong.
“I know we don't have as many games as some,” Hilliard said. “But if you look at our body of work, some of the things we were able to do with a lack of coaches, as in coaches testing positive, same with players, and how we were able to come together and win some of these tough games. That was a good team. If people really watched that game, that was a really good team. They had some really good players. I respect them greatly. Whatever the next mission is, I'm looking forward to it.”
Justin Fields, the second-year starting quarterback, agrees with Hilliard that the Buckeyes have shown that they deserve a spot in the four-team field, right?
“Yes.”
His reasoning?
“Because we're one of the top-four teams in the country,” he said.
Pretty simple.
The 11 members of the selection committee might have more to say than Fields in their final meeting wherein they’ll determine who gets bids. But unless something goes haywire, they should come to the exact same conclusion as Ohio State’s star quarterback.
