The last Saturday before the College Football Playoff rankings debut had a survive-and-advance feel to it.
Don’t ask how, just if. Right, Miami, Indiana, BYU and Texas Tech? Even Notre Dame had it tougher than expected against Navy.
Selection committee season is upon us. Let the complaints begin!
Debate of the week
What is Ohio State?
The Buckeyes have spent most of this season at or near the top of the rankings. Their lone loss before Saturday night was by one point at Texas.
They beat Indiana by a toe barely out of bounds while losing starting quarterback Julian Sayin to what could very well be a season-ending injury.
Playing for the first time without Sayin at all, the Buckeyes lost Saturday night at USC. Not having Sayin is a problem. Playing with backup Luke Fahey limited Jeremiah Smith to 10 catches for 83 yards and a TD. The Buckeyes also played poor defense (6.8 yards per play allowed), settled for way too many field goals, had 11 penalties and dropped a couple of key passes.
“We were unable to play well enough to support a young freshman quarterback on the road like this,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day told reporters.
Maybe it was just a rough night for Ohio State against a desperate USC team, looking to save its season and maybe its head coach’s job.
One might be able to come away encouraged by Fahey’s first start. The Buckeyes put up 464 yards, ran for 204 and held the ball for almost 40 minutes.
How exactly the committee ranks Ohio State this week will be fascinating. Where exactly the Buckeyes go from here will be even more so.
Ohio State falls, Indiana survives: Winners and Losers
Ira Gorawara
Nothing is coming easy in college football this season.
Indiana has needed overtime to beat unranked teams each of the past two weeks. For the second time in three weeks, Miami was pushed to the brink by an ACC rival, with the Hurricanes this time fending off North Carolina and its onside kicks to remain unbeaten. Over in the Big 12, both BYU and Texas Tech bounced back from losses last week with one-score victories. Notre Dame, with an eye toward No. 1 Miami next week, led Navy by a point at half.
Nobody’s looking for style points. Just win.
For Ohio State, November won’t be easy, but by Sunday afternoon when the next AP Top 25 comes out, it’s possible none of the Buckeyes’ remaining opponents will be ranked.
Oregon (5-3) comes to Columbus next week off a victory against Northwestern (6-2), having found its offense after making a coordinator change. The Buckeyes host those Wildcats and former offensive coordinator Chip Kelly the following week.
A trip to Nebraska comes after that. The Cornhuskers appear to be hexed, but they are also not bad.
Then, of course, Ohio State plays Michigan. What could go wrong?
Do the Buckeyes need to win out to make the Playoff? Their schedule seemed tough enough coming into the season to think they were a team that could get in with a 9-3 record. Now the schedule is not quite as daunting, but the team is a bit of a mystery.
Ohio State has not won fewer than 10 regular-season games in a full-length season since 2011. The Buckeyes have had plenty of late-November disappointments under Day against Michigan, but they have never faced a final month like this: So much at stake, so much work still left to do and real questions about whether they should still be considered a national title contender.
Playoff graveyard
There is no “mathematically eliminating” teams from the CFP, but each week we’re going to check vital signs and pronounce some teams dead.
Georgia buried Florida (5-3) on Saturday.
Year 1 under coach Jon Sumrall for the Gators has already produced some encouraging results. If Florida could find a way to win out, wins over Ole Miss and Texas might force the selection committee to at least consider the Gators for the 12-team field.
The problem is that when Florida loses, it loses big. The Gators were outclassed by Georgia in Atlanta, 27-8. Florida’s three losses have been by a combined 66 points. And the Gators head into the final month of the season with no clear No. 1 quarterback. It looks like they’re going to be limited in the passing game, whether its Aaron Philo or Tramell Jones Jr. leading the offense.
“I don’t know that either quarterback right now is playing on a level that’s going to take over the game and win it by themselves,” Sumrall said. “We have to play a hell of a lot better around them.”
Auto-bid race whiparound
Reminder: This year, all four Power 4 conference champions are ensured a Playoff spot, along with the highest-ranked team from the Group of 6.
ACC: Miami’s defense is now officially an issue after getting carved up by Billy Edwards Jr. (341 yards and four TD passes) and a UNC passing offense that ranked in the lower third of the ACC entering Saturday. Still, the Hurricanes would need a major collapse to miss out on just their second trip to the conference title game since joining the ACC 22 years ago.
Big Ten: As tempting as it was to write off USC (7-2, 4-2) after the Trojans lost at Wisconsin last week, Lincoln Riley’s team is still very much a factor in the league title race. USC has next week off before a massive game at Indiana, which has quarterback issues of its own. A home game against Maryland will be the Trojans’ last tuneup for what could be the biggest crosstown rivalry game against UCLA in years. The final month of the season could be Riley’s redemption — or his demise.
Big 12: Next Saturday’s Holy War between BYU and undefeated Utah is enormous, but Texas Tech playing neither the Cougars nor the Utes has all the makings of some tiebreaker madness in determining who plays for the conference championship.
SEC: Six teams with two losses sit behind co-leaders Georgia and Kentucky, both 5-1. The Bulldogs would be tough to keep out of their sixth straight SEC title game if they can beat Ole Miss next and at least split their final two conference games against Missouri and South Carolina.
Group of 6: The anticipated showdown(s) between Boise State and Oregon State in the Pac-12 was derailed when the Beavers were knocked off by Fresno State on Saturday night, though the Broncos survived to beat Texas State 46-45. New Mexico keeps rolling in the Mountain West behind one of the best defenses in the country and UTSA has emerged as a threat coming out of a down American Conference.
Sleeper of the week
Duke (6-2, 3-2) is lurking again. The defending ACC champions have ground to make up, but the schedule screams opportunity. The Blue Devils are the only team in the conference that still plays both Miami and Wake Forest.
