Ohio State has won yet another B1G10 championship, yet are likely to finish #5 in a four-team playoff for the second year in a row.
The #6 Buckeyes defeated #21 Northwestern 45-24.
The win likely propels the Buckeyes into the Rose Bowl against Washington on New Years Day.
The dominance of Ohio State continues with coach Urban Meyer at the helm.
In seven seasons at Ohio State, Meyer has amassed an 82-9 record, three Big Ten championships and the 2014 College Football Playoffs championship.
Only six times in Ohio State history has a Quarterback thrown for 400 yards in one game. Now 5 of those 6 have come from Dwayne Haskins this season.
J.K. Dobbins is the first Ohio State player to rush for 1,000 yards as a freshman and as a sophomore.
He has 1,000 yards this season after a school freshman-record 1,403 yards in 2017.
The teams locked into the college playoffs are: Alabama, Clemson and Notre Dame. But a case can be made that the Buckeyes beat Northwestern by 21, and Michigan by 23, while the Irish won those games by 10 and 7 respectively.
The Buckeyes have finished the first five regular seasons of the College Football Playoff with records of 12-1, 11-1, 11-1, 11-2 and 12-1.
It wound up at No. 4 amid an argument (2014), No. 7 with a slight argument (2015), No. 3 amid an argument (2016), No. 5 amid an argument (2017) and perhaps No. 5 again amid an argument (2018).
For now, the committee has Georgia at No. 4, Oklahoma at No. 5 and Ohio State at No. 6, and in this close case, it will have to keep honing that art for which it was created: parsing.
Georgia lost to Alabama in the SEC Championship today, likely knocking them behind both Oklahoma and Ohio State.
If chalk holds, who will have beaten higher-ranked teams?
That’s Ohio State, with No. 7 Michigan, No. 12 Penn State (on the road) and No. 21 Northwestern (neutral), set against Oklahoma’s No. 14 Texas (neutral), No. 16 West Virginia (on the road and No. 23 Iowa State (on the road).
Who has the more damaging loss? That’s also Ohio State, with 49-20 to Purdue (6-6) set against Oklahoma’s 48-45 to Texas (who they beat today).
Oklahoma will have beaten seven bowl-eligible teams, Ohio State six.
There is little belief that the Buckeyes will leap over Oklahoma, leaving Ohio State looking in at the playoffs again.
Rumors are wild that Urban Meyer may announce soon that he is retiring as the Ohio State coach due to health concerns.
He has been battling wild headaches all season.
While the university has denied he’s leaving, Meyer has refused to answer questions.
