Urban Meyer said he would address with his team where it sits in college football's national landscape. He also said he didn't plan to watch the College Football Playoff rankings show Tuesday night on ESPN.
Ohio State's coach said on Wednesday he had not done the former yet but did not have the television in his office or war room at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center flipped to the World Wide Leader when the rest of the country learned where the Buckeyes were in the latest set of rankings.
But he is aware Ohio State is No. 2 and knows what that means with two weeks remaining in the regular season, with games against the program that always gives him problems and his archrival coming down the pipe.
“Talk to them about other things, like focus. I thought we had a very good practice and that's more important than anything else.”– Urban Meyer on the CFP rankings
“Playoff rankings, obviously people respect our work but that's it,” Meyer said after practice. “We move on and play the best we can.”
By now you know how things could shake out. Should the Buckeyes beat Michigan State in East Lansing this weekend—nowhere near a sure thing even though the Spartans are 3-7—and take down Jim Harbaugh and No. 3 Michigan the Saturday after Thanksgiving, it might not be enough to play for the Big Ten Championships. If Penn State wins out and finishes 8-1 in conference play like the Buckeyes, the Nittany Lions head to Indianapolis.
All of that is noise to Meyer, though he probably will bring the topic up to his players at some point in the near future.
“Not avoid [it], I just don't have a script,” Meyer said. “Talk to them about other things, like focus. I thought we had a very good practice and that's more important than anything else.”
It is, because should the Buckeyes lose to Michigan State their postseason goals definitely will not be in reach any longer. Just like in 2015. And 2013. But Meyer's players know where they sit in the national scope. It is hard to ignore with how much the rankings are circulated on social media and in the 24-hour news cycle.
“It feels pretty good to be classified as one of the top teams in the country but that's not really our focus right now,” H-back Curtis Samuel said. “We've just got to finish the season out right and get these two wins coming up.”
“It's always a nice thing to see that you're ranked in the top 10 and stuff like that but we haven't really been paying attention to that,” safety Malik Hooker said. “I feel like we've been taking it week in and week out and just trying to get better every week so we can finish the season out the best we can.”
Meyer stressed that point on Monday. Ever since the Buckeyes fell to Penn State 24-21 on Oct. 22 in State College, he wants his team dialed in on beating who is next on the schedule. Blocking out the other names on the season slate at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center and posting other signage around the facility help drive that point home.
But the Buckeyes are in a position to force the College Football Playoff selection committee to consider doing something they haven't in the brief two years of the latest postseason setup: Insert a team into the top-4 that didn't win its conference. But first, they must win out.
Ohio State's body of work is clearly respected. But it needs a few more pieces added to it to make it as impressive as possible before the regular season draws to a close. That starts first with a team Meyer called "extremely dangerous" due to its personnel and the fact a win over the Buckeyes would make its season.
“We know how rugged these next two games are,” Meyer said.
Added Samuel: “We want to be a part of the Big Ten Championship Game ... We understand the team we're going against this week, we're playing an away game, we gotta really focus on that and understand they're going to go out there and play hard whether their record is good or bad. We really just focus on that.”
