Ohio State gets some good news in the latest CFP poll

Ohio State got a big win on Tuesday night. But I realize that after all the negative news recently, it may be hard for some to see the good. But it’s true. It was a good day for the Buckeyes and their fans.

Still, sometimes the most difficult thing for fans to have is perspective.

So let me try to give Ohio State fans some perspective right here.

Yes, there’s been a lot of bad news coming out of Columbus — and the entire B1G really, in this past week — but I’m here to tell you there are some good things happening, too. The most important good news came Tuesday night.

• First, and most important, your Buckeyes are still sitting pretty at No. 4 in the College Football Playoff poll, which was released on ESPN Tuesday night. I cannot stress enough how important this is. It means that all you have to do is play your winnable games and you’ve still got a shot at achieving all your goals. Hey, in this crazy COVID world, what more can you ask for, right? And even with all of the bad news we’ve heard (players and coaches testing positive, games being canceled, workouts being canceled, whole practices being canceled) most analysts seemed to think Ohio State was in a good position Tuesday night, even with just four games played. “I think everyone would agree the Buckeyes are still in the top four,” analyst and former Buckeyes quarterback Kirk Herbstreit said before the reveal.
• Second, as of right now, the Buckeyes are still planning to play Michigan State on Saturday. Small groups are practicing in Columbus, even if coach Ryan Day won’t be able to make the trip. This keeps them on the road to another B1G title game and probable championship.
• Third, this means, of course, they are still on the road to a possible appearance in the College Football Playoff, which has been the goal from day one.
• Fourth, having the team ravaged by COVID-19 at this moment is actually better than if it were to occur, say, two weeks from now, or even later, when the Playoff begins. What if this happens to Alabama or Notre Dame on the eve of a national semifinal game? That could be disastrous.
• Fifth, the majority of students are no longer on college campuses, which means, in theory, it should be easier to keep the remaining players safe.
• And lastly, there is still a crazy possibility that even if Ohio State doesn’t qualify for the B1G title game, they could still face a better team — Wisconsin, maybe? — in an additional, spur-of-the-moment game that weekend.

Hey, you can call me crazy all you want, but there’s still a few weeks of 2020 to go, folks. That means anything can happen.

And Tuesday’s poll reveal should be the first positive shot in the arm, some good news to start this last part of the season off right. None of the ESPN analysts seemed to disagree with Ohio State’s rank. Some saw more positives for Ohio State in the other teams — and their placement — in the poll.

“They got some good news,” Jesse Palmer said of the Buckeyes, noting the rank of other B1G squads: Indiana was No. 12, Northwestern No. 14, Wisconsin No. 16 and Iowa No. 19.

Gary Barta, chair of the selection committee and athletic director at Iowa, said there was a lot of discussion about whether Ohio State should flip spots with Texas A&M at five.

“The more games a team has to bring to the committee, the more we have to evaluate,” he said. But Barta noted that with their weapons and offensive firepower, “at the end of the day, the committee just decided that Ohio State is just a better team than Texas A&M.”

And he’s right.

So what does all this good news mean? It means you have to keep playing. Canceling another game (or having your rival cancel a game just to spite you, as some of the analysts suggested Michigan could do at the end of the year) would throw a real monkey wrench into the plans. So you just keep playing.

There’s no more room for error. Or sickness. Now, Ohio State must stay healthy, hope their opponents do the same, and take care of business on the field. It’s obvious the committee believes in their talent and potential. But it’s also obvious that the lack of games is becoming more of a consideration. The selection committee will release its final three rankings on Dec. 8, Dec. 15 and Dec. 20.

Near the end of Tuesday’s playoff reveal broadcast, ESPN also showed their weekly Allstate Playoff Predictor, a metric that breaks down a team’s chances of making the Playoff.

Turns out, Ohio State seems to be in good hands. The predictor still has the Buckeyes in second place (to Alabama) with a 78 percent chance of making the Playoff.

See — the good news just keeps on coming.