Alabama, Ohio State remain atop AP poll

Sure, IU and United Kingdom fans are gonna get cataclysmically hammered and then start wrasslin’ in the streets, but they’ll do it on locally-sourced alcohol. Could a Penn State rout on Saturday change that? What an incredible season for James Franklin and the program.

More than 100,000 screaming fans packed into Ohio State on Saturday afternoon to watch Ohio State mix it up with arch-rival MI. He has the Badgers in the Rose Bowl against Colorado on January 2 and the Nittany Lions in the Cotton Bowl against Western Michigan on January 2. I now await the herd of Michigan Men who will upend my mailbox.

Quarterback Trace McSorley had no idea what the ovation was for.

OSU quarterback J.T. Barrett wasn’t sure if it was the greatest of all time, but he said it was No. 1 in the four years he has been a Buckeye. “I had to go ask coach what everyone was cheering about”.

But if Clemson / Washington slip up (even an Alabama loss won’t boot them from the playoff), the victor of the B1G should see the door swing wide open for them, especially if it’s Wisconsin.

The Big Ten has reprimanded MI coach Jim Harbaugh for violating the conference’s sportsmanship policy by criticizing officials after the Ohio State game.

Ohio State coach Urban Meyer – who fell to the turf moments after Curtis Samuel ran for the winning touchdown Saturday night – was either too flustered to think about it immediately after the game or didn’t want to get into it.

The Badgers triumphantly lifted Paul Bunyan’s Axe again, the trophy that goes to the victor in the most-played rivalry in major college football. As that was the game-decided play, I appointed myself as the replay official and deemed MI the victor.

The road to the College Football Playoff continued to narrow on Saturday, leaving a pile of teams on the roadside while others continued to zoom toward the December 4 selection of the four teams that will vie for the national championship.

Nearly everything Harbaugh said after Michigan’s 30-27 defeat circled back to the officiating. Penn State is 10-2 with a victory against Ohio State, heading to Indianapolis to play No. 5 Wisconsin.

A crowd of 110,045 watched what might just be the second act of a new Ten Year War between MI and Ohio State, with Meyer and Harbaugh playing the roles of Woody Hayes and Schembechler. “We came out a little flat, and then after that kind of got a drive going a little bit, got a field goal up on the board and then took that momentum into the second half”.

Ohio State won’t be playing in the Big Ten championship game, but it doesn’t matter.

Penn State pulverized Michigan State after a slow start, and (somehow) make a playoff claim next week as well.

Just as Ohio State kicker Tyler Durbin kept MI in it by missing two short field goals.

In addition, Alabama takes on Florida in the SEC championship game and Clemson is matched against No. 19 Virginia Tech in the ACC title game. Penn State trailed 12-10 at halftime, but outscored the Spartans 35-0 in the second half. The Mountaineers can’t win the Big 12 outright, but they do pick up four positions to check in at No. 14 after a win at Iowa State. If Washington wins, it will be 12-1 and very well could be the frontrunner for a CFP berth.

Ohio State: The Buckeyes looked locked in to No. 2. Those victories came against Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Nebraska and MI. Washington would be Colorado’s highest-ranked win if the Buffaloes earn the victory. They have great players; we have great players.

In too many ways it still feels like the BCS, where in some years it was hard to figure out just what the criteria for getting in the title game was.