B1G Champs/College Football Playoff STATEment

Last night, the Buckeyes made an Ohio STATEment with a 59-0 clobbering of the Wisconsin Badgers to win the 2014 Big Ten Championship.

The Buckeyes did it without the quarterback that they originally thought would be starting the season, a player who was considered a Heisman Trophy front runner: Braxton Miller. They did it without their second string quarterback, who became a Heisman Trophy candidate and broke Big Ten and Ohio State records throughout the season: JT Barrett.

So then who did they do it with? Their third string quarterback, Cardale Jones, who was the MVP of the Big Ten Championship Game after tossing three TD passes.

I guess the Buckeyes just stockpile talented quarterbacks.

Ezekiel Elliot ran for a Big Ten Championship Game record 220 yards and added another couple of touchdowns.

They did all of this against the #2 defense in college football. They put up a brick wall against the NCAA's leading rusher, Melvin Gordon, who they held to 76 yards on 26 carries and no touchdowns. Gordon had seven consecutive 100 yard games coming into this one. On top of that, as mentioned before, Elliot broke the record for most rush yards in a Big Ten Championship Game...a record that was held by Gordon. I think it's safe to say that Gordon has a really bad night.

Urban Meyer won his first Big Ten Championship as Ohio State head coach. This was the type of game everyone expected Meyer's teams to put up.

Now the question is, was it enough to put the Buckeyes in the one of the four College Football Playoff spots?

The three teams that are definetly in: SEC Champion Alabama, Pac-12 Champion Oregon, and ACC Champion Florida State,

The battle for the fourth spot is between Big 12 Co-Champions TCU and Baylor, and Big Ten Champion Ohio State.

It's been said that conference championships are going to play a big role in choosing the four teams to make the Playoff. And if that's the case, I don't see how you can leave Ohio State out. They have a conference championship, the Big 12 doesn't have a conference champion, they have co-champions. You can't put two teams in one playoff spot.

If the College Football Playoff committee wants to put the best four teams in college football right now in the Playoff, then I don't see how you leave Ohio State out, especially with what they just did to Wisconsin.

It's obvious the committee doesn't respect Baylor's head-to-head win against TCU, seeing how they've had the Horned Frogs ahead of the Bears and even put them in the top four last week.

So if that's the case. how can you hold Ohio State's week two loss against Virginia Tech against them? This is a completely different Ohio State team than back in week two, literally and figuratively.

If they leave Ohio State out, I think they will have failed at putting the four best teams in college football in the playoff. If they put them in, I still think they should expand the College Football Playoff to eight teams.

CFP: Should Indiana game keep Buckeyes out?

On Saturday, the Ohio State Buckeyes (10-1, 7-0 Big Ten) played conference foe Indiana (3-8, 0-7 Big Ten) at Ohio Stadium. The Buckeys had a tough time against the Hoosiers, not taking control of the game until the third quarter, and at one point even being down 20-14 after Indiana opened the scoring in the second half with a 90-yard touchdown run by RB Tevin Coleman.The Buckeyes ended up winning the game by a score of 42-27, a difference of 15 points.

So now the question is, should a game against an opponent as bad on paper as Indiana that wasn't a 52-7 pasting keep the Buckeyes out of the College Football Playoff?

The Mississippi State Bulldogs beat a football team that might end up not bowl eligible, and there's talk about UAB ending it's football program by 13 points. I don't see anyone holding that against the Bulldogs as they make a case for them to be in the top four.

The mighty Oregon Ducks beat a Washington State team that is 3-8 and won't be seeing a bowl. I don't see anyone holding that against the Ducks.

Florida State also sqeaked by a team that may not be bowl eligible after next week when next the season is done. They won this game by only six points. 

As matter of fact the Seminoles beat Virginia (5-6) by only 14, Miami (6-5) by 4, and Boston College (6-5) by 3 points. If not blowing out lesser teams, much less almost losing to them should keep you out of the College Football Playoffs, then if Florida State loses against either Florida in the regular season finale or Georgia Tech in the ACC Championship Game...then the Seminoles shouldn't be in at all. The only thing keeping them in it right now is being undefeated, if they lose that, then by the argument(s) against Ohio State, Florida State shouldn't be in it either.

A week ago, the Horned Frogs, the team that would be "first left out" of the College Football Playoff,, almost lost to a really bad Kansas (3-8) team. That same week, Ohio State played a close one against Minnesota (an AP Top 25 team) and ESPN made it sound like TCU had a gutty performance against a good team and the Buckeyes almost lost to a team that was without a win.

So don't tell me there isn't a bias against the Buckeyes or the Big Ten.

The fact of the matter is, close games happen, especially in conference play where teams see each other often every year.  Maybe you overlook an opponent. Ohio State is facing their big rival in *ichigan this week, maybe the players figured they'd roll Indiana and were looking at The Game.

Maybe Indiana looked at this as their bowl game, and gave their all. After all, their best offensive weapon was their RB and they saw how much trouble the Buckeyes defense had against Minnesota.

What I do know is, that most of the other teams in front of Ohio State have had a close game against teams that on paper they should have beaten by no less than 24 points.