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Author @TheCoachBart
Ohio State eviscerated Wisconsin, and by proxy, the Buckeyes belong in the College Football Playoff. Final score? 59-0. Not making that number up. I promise.
That’s about as loaded for you as meeting your girlfriend’s dad for the first time and saying this:
“Hi. I’m dating your daughter. We met at a foam party at Sigma Chi. I’m a general studies major and have a part time job at a bar. Also, she’s pregnant. And we’re like 99 percent sure the baby is mine. So, what do you do?”
If you’re not putting Ohio State in the top four, you’re just not watching. I’m sorry … I don’t like doing the whole “absolutist” statement with stuff like this, but you’re not.
If this whole charade is about the best four TEAMS in college football, how do you deny one that has one loss, a conference championship in a Power 5 conference, and one that did it with its THIRD-string quarterback (hello there, Cardale Jones) getting a week to prepare for a conference championship game against a top five defense?
The answer is … you include that team, because you haven’t had a cube of Schlitz before voting.
Don’t give me the BS about “they lost to Virginia Tech at home.” We’re evaluating teams based on WINS, not on losses. This should be about who you have proven you’re better than, not who you have proven you can lose to.
This is an Ohio State team that will have beaten Wisconsin on a neutral field; Michigan State on the road; and Minnesota on the road.
Those are three top 25 skins, none of which came within the friendly confines of Columbus. The Buckeyes also won those games having lost a senior Heisman Trophy favorite about two weeks before the season started, and then his backup a week before the conference championship game.
If this is about the four best TEAMS, Ohio State needs to be in. Otherwise, what the hell is the point of even playing the games?
Crying for TCU? Fine. Let’s explore. TCU lost to playoff contender Baylor and is pushed ahead by having thumped Minnesota, because that makes its out-of-conference schedule much, much better than Baylor’s, at least allegedly, and enough to negate the head to head. Well, the problem is … Ohio State defeated Minnesota too, and did it up north in the snow.
Crying for Baylor? The Bears beat TCU and should rightly be in over the Frogs. If we’re deciding who plays for a title based on a win over Minnesota, God help us. That’s like deciding the winner of a Rib Fest over who has the softest napkins. Baylor doesn’t have the resume Ohio State does.
Ask yourself though: Suppose Baylor or TCU had lost their starting quarterback; then suppose they lost their backup and had to rely on a third-stringer.
Would they be where they are? That’s up for you to decide after however many drinks it takes you to make this an argument in your mind. You’ll be floating that keg before talking, I assume.
Ohio State is one of the four best in the land. Let the Buckeyes in, or deal with another eventual death of a system that just doesn’t work and has no intention of doing so.
