After Upset Weekend, CFB Playoff Landscape not Much Different

There isn’t person involved with Buckeyes football who would tell you Barrett isn’t ready for what’s coming when Ohio State hosts MI in eight days.

Ohio State and MI each control their own destiny if they win the B1G. The Spartans opened their season with wins over Furman and Notre Dame, then lost seven in a row before routing Rutgers 49-0 last Saturday. I mean, as a player and as our rival, I really just don’t root for them at all.

Ohio State and Michigan State have split the last six meetings.

Georgia State: Coach Trent Miles was sacked after less than four years on the job. If that happens, PSU will either finish in first place outright or tied with Ohio State. If the Buckeyes win out, they will absolutely be one of the top four teams in the country. Yes, Ohio State is by far the better team with a playoff berth in sight, but this is a ton of points to give up on the road against an MSU team that will be inspired. All the Wolverines had to do was knock off Iowa, which had been dispatched to the land of misfit toys, then beat IN this weekend, to set up the grand finale against the Buckeyes.

Before the 2014 game, wide receiver Devin Smith said, “I’m not going to lie to you”.

“They bring a lot to the table, but, you know, if you’re playing well – if you’re going to win this conference, you’ve got to play well against the good teams in this conference, and traditionally they’ve been very, very good”.

The nation’s top-ranked scoring defense allowed Iowa to score a touchdown on fourth down on a perfectly timed screen pass. Even worse, MI quarterback Wilton Speight was injured, and will be out for a little while.

When the Big Ten football schedule was announced, Saturday’s Ohio State at Michigan State game was expected to be one of the marquee games of the season. The 6-1 record puts them in a three-way tied atop the Big Ten East along with MI and Ohio State.

But if Ohio State beats Michigan – Penn State is your champion!

What will the committee do with the Big Ten? And for Michigan State, it would be a chance to show again it was an elite team.

Following a 48-3 drubbing of Illinois, Wisconsin continues to separate itself as the best team in the Big Ten West. While it might not seem like a 3-7 team has a bright future, the young guys are gaining valuable experience and will be ready to go in the fall of 2017.

Though Ohio State is ranked No. 2, the media is saying that Ohio State could strictly go to the playoffs based on popularity alone. But he likes the fact that they wake up and are able to play without having to wait for game-time.

What about Clemson? They can still win the ACC. I’m sure that many of you have heard talk that the Big Ten could get two teams into the CFP – a first in the format’s three-year history.

If you were looking for incremental improvements in Barrett over the last few weeks, you’ve seen them.

It was the only time the then-unbeaten college football rivals were ranked Nos.