The Ohio State football team is right where it wants to be in order to be a part of a run to a national championship. The third release of the College Football Playoff rankings were released on Tuesday. The Buckeyes are No. 2 and in prime position if they can take care of business in the final weeks.
But how tenuous is that ranking? Ohio State has looked virtually unstoppable at times but has struggled to show the physicality that resulted in its downfall in a couple of games last season at others.
College Football Playoff committee chair, Boo Corrigan, met with the media after the release of the last rankings to discuss what went into this week’s process of slotting teams and he had plenty to say about Ohio State.
Here is everything Corrigan said about the Buckeyes, including why they are ranked ahead of No. 3 Michigan.
On comparing Ohio State vs. Michigan
BOO CORRIGAN: First of all, thank you for being a part of this. Two well-balanced teams, both in the top 10 offensively and defensively. Ohio State does have the win over Notre Dame, which I believe at this point as a committee, as we talk about it, that stands out a little bit to us as we’re going through this.
But again, two really good teams that play really hard. Both had good wins this past week over Indiana and Nebraska. There’s a reason one is 2 and one is 3 in how close they are.
On how close to Georgia both Ohio State and Michigan are in the eyes of the committee
BOO CORRIGAN: I think the committee believes there’s been separation with Georgia, but there’s still more games to play as we kind of get through the balance of the season.
On whether Georgia has separated from Ohio State because of the way it has played or strength of schedule
BOO CORRIGAN: When we look at it, we notice the win over Tennessee, the win over Oregon, the top-10 defense, another win for them this past week at Mississippi State. In the eyes of the committee, that’s a separator for us.
Again, looking at those three teams and how balanced they are offensively and defensively, we have determined that Georgia is ahead of the other two.
On whether the separator between Michigan and Ohio State is mostly strength of schedule
BOO CORRIGAN: We don’t believe there’s anything simple about it. We’re going to go through each week with a clean sheet, look at every team, continue to evaluate, continue to compare, statistically continue to compare their schedules.
But all that being said, the strength of schedule is different as we look at it. But again, we’re looking at so many different factors as opposed to just one. From a protocol standpoint, we want to make sure we get it right, and that’s why we landed where we did this week.
On how much did the injuries to Ohio State's running backs played into how the Buckeyes were evaluated
BOO CORRIGAN: When we are evaluating the games and the teams and taking notice of a player who does leave the game early and noting that during the course of the game as we’re doing a recap of each team, during that week, from a projection standpoint, as you know, we don’t project and look ahead. But certainly during the game and having a greater understanding of how the team flows, we want to make sure we have all the information.
Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes, and opinion. Follow Phil Harrison on Twitter.
Let us know your thoughts, and comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.
