It’s vital to Ohio State’s College Football Playoff hopes that the Buckeyes return to action against Michigan State. That would keep their chances for a B1G Championship alive, something that the crew for ESPN’s College GameDay believes is a necessity for this team to make the Playoff.

Rece Davis asked the question Saturday morning if Ohio State can get included in the Playoff if the team finishes with just four or five games completed and does not have a conference championship on the resume. David Pollack says he cannot do it, based on the fact that other teams may have twice as many games with a conference title:

“That would be tough for me. First of all, I think the B1G shows us they can change rules quickly, so we might can change this, amend this since it involves Ohio State,” said Pollack. “I think this might change, but that’s just a personal opinion…I’ve seen enough from Ohio State to know they’re a really good team, but you have to do a certain amount on the field. You have to do an amount on the field for me to know you deserve to be there.

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“I can’t sit there and look at Cincinnati, 11-0 and a conference championship, and you play four games and me put you in the CFP. I would have a hard time with that.”

Kirk Herbstreit followed that up by explaining that it is a tall task for the Committee to compare a potentially 5-0 Ohio State team against teams that have completed 10+ games. He doesn’t believe the Committee would put that Buckeyes squad in the Playoff with other undefeated options available:

“I think the reality of it is we all collectively – college football fans that are objective – look at Ohio State as a top-four team in the country,” said Herbstreit. “If they’re going to play four games or five games and at the end of the year you’re looking and evaluating them to teams that have been out there playings nine, 10, 11 games, I don’t think the Committee will be put in a position to include Ohio State. I just don’t think they can.

“(The Buckeyes) need to play Michigan State, they need to play Michigan, and they need to get to Indianapolis. If they’re left out of Indianapolis, I just can’t imagine how the Committee would put them in, even though I think we all agree they’re top 4.”

Davis wrapped up the segment by simply pointing out what you do on the field has to matter:

“The resume and what you’ve done has to count. You have to put yourself in harm’s way,” explained Davis.

Hopefully Ohio State gets past this quickly and doesn’t have to play the “what if” game at the end of the season.