Bridges-led No. 13 Michigan State tops Miss Valley St 100-53

In 1998, Ohio State was No. 1 in the nation when it lost at home in November to an unranked Michigan State team. ‘Bama’s still in, right?

Let’s take a look at it leading to the conference championship games.

“When you go back and watch the film, it’s hard not to implant that image in your head about what we did against them a year ago”, O’Connor said.

Does West Virginia have a route to the national College Football Playoff, which pit the top 4 teams as selected by the committee in a two-game playoff at season’s end. But the few remaining land mines on the Crimson Tide’s path might not even register at this point. West Virginia remains a factor in the Big 12 championship race thanks to a defense that is allowing 20 points per game against Big 12 foes. However, there are still reasons to follow Alabama through the remainder of the regular season. Presumably, someone’s taking a loss and a hit in the rankings.

There’s a second problem for these teams, and it’s in Happy Valley.

You see, even if Ohio State wins its final two regular-season games – including a sure-to-be-epic showdown with MI in The Game – it won’t be able to claim a Big Ten East Division title or play for a conference championship if Penn State also wins its last two regular-season games.

The giant video screen in Ohio State’s indoor practice facility ran a loop of MMA fighters beating each other senseless, coach Urban Meyer’s way of reminding players that they have one swing to knock out Michigan State this week and keep their championship dreams alive.

Louisville’s surest shot into the postseason is probably another Clemson loss, no matter how unlikely that may be. If a #5 Louisville team is left out, just think about what the college football world is missing. The Huskers are still in position to pounce on a Big Ten championship game slot should Wisconsin falter down the stretch. That’s not the case with Clemson and Louisville, and it’s hard to see where an upset for either might come from.

So what does that all mean for the Playoff and the Big Ten filling two of the four spots? The conference has received one invite thus far, and that was Oklahoma’s No. 4 seed in 2015.

“They always have a chip on their shoulder when the Buckeyes are in town, and it’s going to be the same way this Saturday”, Ohio State center Pat Elflein said. Oklahoma wins out in the Big 12.

Ohio State QB J.T. Barrett vs. the weather.

MAC: None. Western Michigan is undefeated, but hasn’t budged in the rankings simply due to their weakness in scheduling.

So the victor of the Big Ten title game and one-loss Ohio State take two spots, likely splitting up and facing off against SEC champion Alabama and ACC champion Clemson in the Playoff semifinals. Washington State quarterback Luke Falk leads the Pac-12 in passing with 3,610 yards and 33 touchdown passes. Even if they get past that, there’s still the Pac-12 championship game and a possible rematch against Southern Cal, the team that just beat up Washington 26-13. That’s also a distinct possibility. Both were 5 of 8 on 3-pointers. Penn State would beat Ohio State on the head-to-head result and go to the B1G title game. Utah has two losses, one to No. 4 Washington and one to unranked Cal, and still must play OR and at No. 10 Colorado, while the Trojans have lost three times.

There are nearly too many scenarios to count, particularly in the West Division, so let’s focus on those that would have a profound impact on the Playoff chase. Presumably, PSU would have been savaged for losing at IN as well.

Prediction: Utah wins out to take the South. Washington beats ASU and the Cougars to win the North. You could argue that Clemson (Strength of record: No. 2) and even Louisville (No. 5) should be ranked ahead of Michigan (No. 7), but the committee clearly values the Wolverines’ three top-10 wins, despite them all being at home.