Now that the CFP Committee has shown that the having less losses on your record is more important than beating good teams or winning a conference championship should Ohio State reevaluate their strategy of playing out of conference games against other elite programs like Oklahoma?
Playing big time out of conference games is a double edged sword. Obviously if you win it can help your playoff resume a lot, but if you lose then you've put yourself behind the 8 ball before the conference season even begins. If the Buckeyes lose an out of conference game like they did this year then they basically have to go undefeated in B1G play to make it to the playoffs. With the Big Ten growing stronger and stronger, that's a really tough thing to ask for.
Before I get a bunch of responses along the lines of "Just don't lose to Iowa," let me stop you right there. Obviously that loss was a big part of OSUs problems this year, but B1G scheduling for future years is not under our control. We are often going to have trap games like that on the schedule (i.e. @Kinnick one week after an emotional revenge game against #2 Penn State). Ohio State needs to learn from the mistakes they made this year, but asking the Buckeyes to go undefeated through a 9-10 game conference schedule every year is unreasonable.
As a fan I hope we don't have to lose the big time intersectional matchups. They're exciting to watch and it gives us all something to look forward to in the early part of the season, but if they hurt OSUs chances of making the playoffs then its something that the athletic department needs to take a look at.
Looking at future schedules 2018 features one mediocre Power 5 team in Oregon State and one very good, if not necessarily elite, team in TCU. The 2019 OOC schedule uncharacteristicly soft with only 3 games, none against Power 5 teams. 2020 and 2021 feature a home and away series with Oregon. 2022 and 2023 are particularly crazy with Ohio State facing both Texas AND Notre Dame before the Big Ten season.
So what do you guys think? Should the results of the College Football Playoff selection cause Ohio State to reevaluate their future schedules? Or should they just keep things as they are?
