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OSU Path to the Playoffs, Path Gets Tighter As OSU Improves

+11 HS
Spartan13's picture
October 25, 2021 at 3:55pm
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Another weekly look at the path to the playoffs for OSU and some of the potential playoff possibilities. None of the leaders in the clubhouse lost but there was a lot of movement for the resumes.

OSU still in a win and in scenario but the resume has gotten much weaker. PSU was embarassed by Illinois and will fall out of the top 25 and will be 5-3 after OSU smacks them. They still have @Maryland, Michigan and @MSU, they may not be a ranked win. Wisconsin is doing everything they can to make the B1G west look terrible. After a blowout loss to ND they were left for dead but just killed ranked Purdue and are now the home favorite against Iowa. If they win this game they will be the favorite to win the west. Minnesota is proving to not be a bad team but the BGSU loss is an anchor on their perception, nobody will count that as a good win. Michigan and MSU may be the only ranked wins at this point. 

Current playoff if favorites win out

  • UGA(SEC1): Still the undefeated #1 seed. They are really good nothing much else to say. We want to play them instead of Bama and should yell go Dawgs with a southern accent as many times as possible to make it happen. Their schedule is weak and Auburn is currently the only ranked team on their schedule which could come back to bite them if they loss to Bama. 
  • Oklahoma(Big12): They keep winning somehow. They were shut out in the first half by arguably the worst team in D1. They are undefeated and I would love to see them lose to bump up OSU and UC. They will beat TTech before their bye and end the season with @Baylor, ISU, @OkState, and the Big12 championship. 4 tough games for a team that has barely skated by all year.  
  • Oregon(Pac12): They survived as road underdogs to UCLA. Now they get Colorado, Washington, and WSU who are all terrible before ending the season @Utah and Oregon State. People keep blowing this team off but man I dont really see where they are supposed to lose. And with Iowa and PSU imploding the strength of schedule argument appears off the table for the moment. 
  • OSU(B1G): Went over it all above so instead I really think OSU wins it this year. They are the SP+ #1 team. The offense is incredible. The defense is playing really well. Bama is going to miss the playoffs and I am supposed to be scared of UGA? Just need the dawgs to do their part
  • #5 UC(AAC) Survived a scare to Navy but should be back on track against normal offenses. Tulane, Tulsa, and USF are all bad and now Fickell has something to yell at his team about. That was probably the scare they needed to refocus. 
  • #6 Bama(SEC2): The team I am most scared of us lurking in the distance. Auburn and Arkansas arent built to beat Bama but they have a really good shot at beating the dawgs. Bama matches up really well against OSU. Go Dawgs

Biggest Games of the week

  • PSU @ OSU: PSU ruined the big time coming out party for OSU. OSU will smack them around but beating a 5-3 team at home isnt going to shock anybody. OSU will have the first committee ranking without a single ranked win. Need the eye test to carry the day.
  • Iowa @ Wisconsin: Need Iowa to get it the F together and focus on the task at hand, improving OSU's resume. Because of what these two teams did ooc it is 1000x better if Iowa wins the west. The west winner may not be ranked if Wisconsin pulls this win off(they are the favorite.) 
  • Michigan @ MSU: Oddly this game has like no playoff impact because OSU will beat them both. We just need these teams to win all the other games. 
  • SMU @ Houston: Should be a great game and the winner will go to the AAC championship game. However it is important for UC that SMU stays unbeaten to give them their 2nd(and 3rd) ranked win. 
  • Ole Miss @ Auburn: May sound odd but we actually want Ole Miss to win this game. I know PSU beat Auburn but the reality is the only way OSU misses the playoffs is if 2 SEC teams get in. That would require 12-1 UGA to get in over OSU. UGA's only ranked win is Auburn so if Auburn falls out UGA could end up with 0 ranked wins. Would be really hard to argue putting a team with that weak of a SOS in. 
  • North Carolina @ Notre Dame: Biggest side game of the week. After this game Notre Dame has Navy, UVA, GTurd, and Stanford. That is a cakewalk to an 11-1 record. Would be really hard to keep a 13-0 UC team with wins over 11-1 ND and 11-2 SMU out over another team like 1 loss Oklahoma or 2 loss Oregon. 

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