Buckeyes not thrilled at No. 16 on playoff list

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Urban Meyer took a look at the initial College Football Playoff rankings on Wednesday.It took him a while to find his Ohio State team.”Just real briefly. I just looked for the Buckeyes. I just looked down and saw where we were at,” he said, a slight grin playing at the corners of his mouth. ”That’s it.”There was special emphasis on the word ”down.”The Buckeyes (6-1, 3-0 Big Ten) , ranked 13th in the coaches and The Associated Press media polls, were 16th on the first weekly list of the top 25 teams determined by the playoff selection committee and released Tuesday.The Buckeyes are trying to gain incentive off their ranking.”We were real disappointed,” linebacker Curtis Grant said. ”We’re hungry. You know, we did it to ourselves. So, all we’ve got to do is keep battling and keep working and at the end of the day try to work our way back to the top.”The Buckeyes aren’t surprised that they have their work cut out for them to make it into the college sport’s first playoff.They already knew they could not afford a second loss as they prepare for Saturday’s game against Illinois (4-4, 1-3) and then a showdown the following week at No. 8 Michigan State. View gallery Ohio State defensive lineman Joey Bosa (97) is surrounded by teammates as they celebrate a 31-24 win … Ohio State was No. 8 in the nation when it was soundly beaten at home by Virginia Tech, 35-21, on Sept. 6. The Hokies have since lost four times.Jeff Long, the AD at Arkansas and also chairman of the 12-member playoff committee, was asked about Ohio State’s low placement.”It was not a good loss for them,” he said of the Buckeyes’ lone defeat. ”But Ohio State has opportunities on their schedule to play up, as many of these teams do. We’re still early in this process.”The Buckeyes are ranked third among Big Ten teams by the playoff committee, behind No. 8 Michigan State and No. …

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