COLUMBUS, Ohio — Did the latest College Football Playoff rankings provide good news or bad news for Ohio State?
How about a little of both?
The Buckeyes entered Tuesday night as college football’s greatest conundrum, riding a 10-game winning streak into the Big Ten Championship Game but also dealing with the broken ankle suffered by quarterback J.T. Barrett in last weekend’s win over Michigan.
Nevertheless, Ohio State managed to rise a spot in this week’s rankings to No. 5, as the committee declined to punish the Buckeyes—yet—for their star player’s season-ending injury.
“Ohio State’s situation has not been impacted to this point due to J.T. Barrett’s injury,” playoff committee chair Jeff Long said on Tuesday’s ESPN rankings reveal. “We will evaluate his injury and his replacement in this championship game. The No. 5 ranking of Ohio State is not impacted at this point.”
That’s good news for the Buckeyes.
Because at the very least, backup quarterback Cardale Jones will be given a one-game opportunity to prove that he’s a capable replacement for Barrett.
If Jones lights it up or the drop-off between him and Barrett isn’t significant, it’s safe to assume that Ohio State will remain firmly entrenched in the playoff committee’s discussion—so long as the Buckeyes win.
Now for the bad news.
While Ohio State may have climbed to No. 5 following a loss by former No. 4 Mississippi State, it wasn’t the only team to make a move on Tuesday. In fact,…
Continue Reading: Are Ohio State’s College Football Playoff Hopes Dead?
