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College Football Playoff: ESPN’s FPI predicts winners of two semifinal games
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So they’re saying there’s a chance.
ESPN’s FPI predicts that, well, it is a toss-up for Ohio State in the College Football Playoff. The Buckeyes are a literal coinflip, at 50.0 percent to beat Clemson on New Year’s day in the College Football Playoff on New Year’s Day.
(For those math majors, that means that, covnersely, Clemson is at 50.0 percent to beat Ohio State).
It took some maneuvering for the Big Ten to get Ohio State to this point. At 5-0, Ohio State certainly had the undefeated record needed to get into the playoff and didn’t have any missteps during their abbreviated season.
But three games cancelled due to COVID-19 and only one win in the regular season over a ranked team hampered their overall resume. And despite being one game short of the minimum threshold to play in the Big Ten Championship Game, the conference waived the requirement and got the Buckeyes into the game.
A game which they won over No. 14 Northwestern, overcoming a slow and sluggish start for a 22-10 win. So at least Ohio State has played and beaten two ranked teams this year.
In the other semifinal, No. 1 Alabama has an 81.9 percent chance of beating No. 4 Notre Dame according to ESPN’s FPI.