Ohio State checks in No. 3 in the College Football Playoff rankings released Tuesday night. That is the same spot the Buckeyes held last week, though Alabama jumped over them after beating LSU over the weekend. Without a real marquee win, the Buckeyes stand out somewhat from much of the rest of the field (at least at the top), so committee chairman Jeff Long was asked to explain how the committee has evaluated the defending national champions so far. “Yeah, you know, probably Penn State is their strongest opponent that they’ve beaten with a winning record,” Long replied in a Tuesday night teleconference. “You know, Ohio State, again, we watch them play, we analyze them. We think they have incredible talent. We think that that team is a team that hasn’t played their best yet. We think that their best games are in front of them. “Obviously they’ve had a little bit of inconsistency in the quarterback, and so we’re looking forward to evaluating them going forward with J.T. Barrett. But again, I think when you look at that team and we evaluate that team and we look at their statistics and look at their personnel, they’ve got some dominating players that impact the game. So we think Ohio State is strong, and yet they still do have important games in front of them that will demonstrate to the committee just how strong they are.” Barrett is expected to return as Ohio State’s starting quarterback this week after serving a one-game suspension for an OVI citation. He starred in his first start of the season, a blowout of Rutgers on Oct. 24, after coming off the bench frequently in the first half of the season. He replaced Cardale Jones, who was inconsistent as the starter this year after helping lead Ohio State to the national championship last season. The “important games” Long referred to would be against No…
Continue Reading: Why No. 3? Chairman explains what the CFP committee sees in Ohio State
