A historic B1G football regular season is now in the books, and we’re now off to Indy. We had some thick drama over the last weekend, and there’s sure to be more as we ramble on to playoff chatter. Here’s five things we learned from this past week.
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5. There’s going to be a B1G mess for the College Football Playoff committee to sort out.
So yeah. It’s been a banner year for the Jim Delany Ten playing with fourteen this year, but there’s going to be some very, very interesting things to sort through when the final College Football Playoff rankings are released on December 4th.
Consider the following; There is going to be a two-loss champion crowned in the best conference in the land. It’s going to either be Penn State or Wisconsin, who will get a top ten win in the spare parts the committee will need to sort through.
However, the Scarlet and Gray elephant in the room is the fact that Ohio State is sitting as a co-champion of the East division with the best body of work of any team in the conference, and perhaps the entire country aside from Alabama.
I know there’s a lot of debate out there, but you can bank on the Buckeyes getting an invite to the fantastic four. We also know that ‘Bama is in regardless. That means the winner of the conference is going to somehow make a big enough statement to get in when compared against Clemson and Washington — at least.
That’s three teams for two spots.
Fourth Rankings: The #CFBPlayoff Selection Committee Top 25. pic.twitter.com/4uweznJUyu
— College Football Playoff (@CFBPlayoff) November 23, 2016
And that’s only if things hold to form. Right now, it might be very, very tough for the Big Ten to get two teams in, meaning a Penn State team that beat OSU head-to-head, or a Wisconsin team that’s played one of the toughest schedules in the country could be the odd man out.
We also may not be able to forget about Michigan (but more on that later).
And if not, and the Big Ten Champ is put in, then some team from somewhere is frankly going to have a very legitimate beef with what happens.
Yikes.
4. For all the good that Harbaugh seems to bring, he still hasn’t won anything B1G
Catalyst of the Stanford program. Architect of a San Francisco 49er renaissance. Savior of the Michigan program. It may all be somewhat true, and Harbaugh has quickly turned things around at all stops, but he has yet to really win anything aside from an NFC championship in the NFL.
There is no college division title, no Big Ten championship, no national championship, and no Super Bowl championship. Zero, zip, zilch.
It’s time to ask the question of whether Jim Harbaugh is an overrated coach. There’s obviously still time to put a stamp on history, but so far, all Mr. Twitter khakis has done is make a lot of noise and finish just short of all major goals.
I guess there’s always next year …
3. Penn State is legitimately back B1G time
Congrats to @PennStateFBall on clinching a share of the #B1GFootball East Division title and a berth in the 2016 #B1GFCG. pic.twitter.com/CKmUwuQy2q
— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) November 27, 2016
Yep. The Nittany Lions looked like they were going to limp through 2016 after getting beat by Pitt and then getting blown off the field by Michigan. But after the upset of Ohio State, things quickly turned toward the sunny side of expectations.
This offense has gotten much more explosive with the rapid improvement of quarterback Trace McSorley and a healthy defense. All the parts seem to have come together, and despite the judgement of many, all Penn State has done is look very impressive since that fateful night on October 22.
James Franklin has brought this team back into relevancy, now we’ll all just have to see if Penn State has sticking power in the big, bad East division.
2. The B1G Championship game will be missing the two best teams
Say what you will Penn State and Wisconsin fans, but the two best teams in the league are still Ohio State and Michigan. The Buckeyes will miss out because of tie-break rules by way of losing head-to-head in Happy Valley by 3 points. Michigan is out because of two very close shaves.
If you watched The Game on Saturday and have followed both of these teams throughout the year, then you know it to be true. Remember, the Wolverines beat both participants that will be in Indy, and the Penn State game was like going to the slaughter house.
I think an overlooked position that might be taken by some on the committee is the refusal of sending either Penn State or Wisconsin to the CFP over a Michigan team that beat them both.
It’ll be interesting to see where the committee places both division winners as we get ready for the game on Saturday. Give all the credit in the world to both the Nittany Lions and Badgers, but something just doesn’t feel right about what’s going down in Indianapolis.
1. Ohio State still has the B1G edge over Michigan
Jim Harbaugh Breaks His Headset During Sideline Meltdown, Then Hilariously Tries To Put It Back On https://t.co/UUYLcoodYt
— Gifdsports (@gifdsports) November 26, 2016
Don’t kid yourself. The Wolverine brass hired Jim Harbaugh to tilt the balance of the rivalry with OSU back to Ann Arbor. It was a hire that Michigan had to pull off with where the program was with the weird scientist type of hire of Rich Rodriguez, and the unfulfilled promise of Brady Hoke.
But even with a boat-load of seniors strapping on the winged helmets in Columbus this year against the youngest FBS team in all the power-five conferences, Harbaugh and Michigan still couldn’t get it done.
It looked for all the world like it was going to happen early on in the 3rd quarter, but slowly and surely Ohio State began to wear down that veteran Michigan defense. From there, it was a movie we had all seen before. Ohio State won in dramatic and heartbreaking fashion once more.
And with all those seniors moving on, and all the kids back for Ohio State, there’s no reason to think things will be different next year.
Nobody said it would be easy to swing a heavy pendulum back to the starting position.
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Phil Harrison is a frequent contributor to The Student Section. He is also a featured contributor to collegefootballews.com, and talking10.com. You can follow him on twitter @PhilHarrisonCFB or email him at pharrison28@gmail.com. If that doesn’t work, you can find him in the doghouse at home.
