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Ohio State is playing one of its greatest games in recent memory – just playing its next game. The calendar indicates that the opponent is the state of Michigan. We all know COVID-19 is more formidable.
Ohio State 4 has been the most prominent team significantly affected by the coronavirus in this bizarre season. The program has been facing some level of epidemic for at least last week.
With two games to go, the Big Ten rules state that the Buckeyes must play both to be eligible for their conference championship game. Getting them into those all-important eight quarters over the next two weeks is a tipping point for college football.
Ohio State is desperate to play. The Big Ten desperately want the Buckeyes to play to the point of changing their six-game requirement for the Big Ten Championship Game.
Fair?
“This will probably be the toughest three hours of my life,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said after missing the Michigan State game. Day will be home after testing positive for COVID-19.
At this point, the Buckeyes could probably beat the Spartans with you or me as a coach. The most important point is how the whole system can deal with a state of Ohio that we know is good.
At some point don’t you have to to play to prove it? Think of an undefeated Ohio State in college football playoff pursuit playing four or five games less than a 9-1 Texas A&M or 10-0 Cincinnati.
Then contemplate an undefeated Pac-12 champion like USC or Washington. The last and only time that an undefeated Power Five champion did not play for a championship in the BCS / CFP era (since 1998) was Auburn in 2003. Ironically, that started the ball rolling for the playoffs in today. Then-commissioner Mike Slive vowed it would never happen again.
College football has revealed a lot about itself this week. Desperation has set in as we get closer to the annual $ 475 million ESPN contributes to the CFP.
On Tuesday, Kirk Herbstreit made the unfortunate “waving a white flag” comment about Michigan’s impact on the Ohio state lawsuit. He said he misspoke and excuse. On the same day, the ACC preserved the “integrity” of its title game by giving Notre Dame and Clemson a cleaner path to the playoffs via game cancellations on December 12th.
Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel responded to Herbstreit’s comments on Wednesday with an outburst of emotion. As a Wisconsin AD, Barry Alvarez suggested the Big Ten change their own rules so the state of Ohio can play in the Big Ten title game if it ends up playing just five games.
On the same day, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey called the ACC and promised that the SEC would not take similar action for Alabama and Florida.
Meanwhile, in Ohio state, the program has been silent all week, presumably waiting to determine whether it will play, rather than going through the usual media car wash of play week How? ‘Or’ What he will play. The signs are all heading in the right direction.
However, the state of Ohio has been secretive about its COVID-19 positive count citing “privacy” concerns. It shouldn’t fly during what experts have called the pandemic’s darker days. The number of players in the community infected with COVID-19 is a public health issue, not a privacy issue.
Ohio State’s direction of the season will go far beyond any corner bar argument.
At stake are draft positions, millions of dollars, careers and a potential Heisman Trophy (for Justin Fields).
Whether the Buckeyes make it to that Big Ten Championship game is the main issue in the sport right now. Allowing a football factory not eligible for its own championship game to play in the playoffs could violate a sense of fairness that goes beyond the PSC selection committee.
If we’ve learned anything this season, it’s the breaks. COVID-19 is calling all the rooms.
Clinching scenarios
- The SEC championship game is expected to be finalized by the end of Saturday. Florida No. 6 (7-1) must beat Tennessee to take over the SEC East. Alabama (8-0) wins SEC West if they beat LSU. Both games are on CBS.
- Notre-Dame’s number 2 (9-0) is on the line. He landed a spot in the CCA championship game when the conference called off his December 12 game. No.3 Clemson (8-1) can clinch a berth by beating Virginia Tech.
- No.9 Iowa State (7-2) clinches a spot in the Big 12 Championship Game with a win over West Virginia or loss by No.15 Oklahoma State (6-2). No. 11 Oklahoma (6-2) clinches its spot with a victory over Baylor.
- The No.12 Indiana (5-1) would win the Big Ten East with a victory over No.16 Wisconsin (2-1) and the Ohio State could not qualify for the championship game. The No.14 Northwestern (5-1) won the Big Ten West when this week’s game in Minnesota was called off. The state of Ohio must successively beat the state of Michigan and Michigan to qualify for the Big Ten title game.
All the rest of week 14
Running back a classic: Alabama-LSU was the game of the 2019 season. It’s supposed to be a blowout Saturday in Death Valley (8 p.m. ET on CBS). But something tells me the Tigers have a surprise for the Crimson Tide. Perhaps not an upheaval but a surprising effort. LSU hasn’t played at home for six weeks. It has only allowed two-thirds of combined down conversions in the past two weeks (2 of 26). Super rookie Arik Gilbert is the main receiver now that Terrace Marshall has retired. Take LSU and the 29.5 points.
Tiger Ambush: Auburn hosting No.5 Texas A&M (6-1) appears to be one of those games. The Tigers (5-3) have not been great this season, but could catch up with the Aggies in the prospect of a place in the CFP. After a horrific game against LSU where he only completed 11 of 34 assists, Texas A&M’s Kellen Mond should watch out for Auburn’s Colby Wooden, who has at least 0.5 TFL in every game but one this season. .
Call it the kickoff of bowl season: BYU-Coastal Carolina has become the most delicious exhibition game ever in the midst of this pandemic. When Liberty had a COVID-19 outbreak, Coastal pivoted this week by hosting a game we all want to see. Two of the seven undefeated teams below the Power Five meet… what exactly is at stake? Many. For starters, it’s just nice to see the flexibility of this arranged marriage. A win in this game dramatically improves the odds of BYU’s Six Bowl on the New Year. Eight spots are already taken. BYU (9-0) is expected to be one of the next four highest-ranked teams. Six of these teams are currently ranked ahead of the Cougars. That means a final ranking of No.10 or better in the CFP, and BYU could reach their first major bowl in 23 years without playing a Power Five team. The No. 18 Coastal (9-0) has its own layout. If No.7 Cincinnati (8-0) doesn’t win the AAC, a Chanticleers victory would make them a Group of Five favorite to play (most likely) the Peach Bowl. Both coaches (BYU’s Kalani Sitake, CCU’s Jamey Chadwell) are the National Coach of the Year nominees.
Barry Bowl: The Arkansas-Missouri game could just be the SEC’s Coach of the Year. In his first season, Eli Drinkwitz got the Tigers at 4-3. Mizzou was dropped in the reconstituted SEC roster set to play in both Alabama and LSU. The Tigers had to maneuver around COVID-19 while beating LSU to get within screaming distance of the bowl. Arkansas, chosen last in the SEC West, is 3-5. First-time head coach Sam Pittman contracted COVID-19 while making the Hogs surprisingly competitive. His defensive coordinator is Barry Odom, who recruited much of the Missouri roster. Odom was fired last year after four seasons as Tigers coach. Let the emotions rise.
USC Path: As long as we’re this far and it’s been this crazy season, we might as well wonder if the No.20 Trojans (3-0) can enter the playoffs. It starts with Notre Dame defeating Clemson for the second time. This eliminates the Tigers from the top four. Then the state of Ohio has to lose somewhere along the way. Only then does USC have a chance – and only a small one at that. He probably needs to blow up the remaining competition in Washington State, UCLA and whoever he would face in the Pac-12 Championship game then. Going up in the playoffs from 18th place in the first CFP ranking would be a record.
Miami Wells: I wonder what the No.10 Miami (7-1) thinks this week of being all but eliminated from the ACC Championship game? That’s what happened when the ACC decided Notre Dame and Clemson wouldn’t have to play last week. Hurricanes are cool with that. I spoke with Miami AD Blake James, who explained it like this: If Miami, Clemson and Notre Dame have all played their full schedule, the Canes lose in a three-way tiebreaker. Notre Dame defeated Clemson face to face. Clemson was 1-1 against Notre Dame and Miami. Miami lost to Clemson. Meanwhile, Miami can argue for a New Years Six game (likely the Orange Bowl) by winning.
Quick shots: If you missed it last week, Trevor Lawrence may have flipped his hand after the Pittsburgh game, calling it “the last game in Death Valley”. A Heisman now looks unlikely for the projected No.1 pick in the NFL Draft who missed two games. Lawrence has appeared in the fourth quarter in just 20 of his 37 career games … UTEP (3-4) is having their best season in years, but last week’s game against Rice was called off after tests revealed 11 COVIDs -19 positive. It turns out that 10 of them were false positives. Ten! In this crazy season, it must be a kind of record. Worse yet, these “positive” players had to take a 750 mile and 11 hour bus back to El Paso after the game was canceled. The Miners haven’t played at home since September 17.
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