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Following a three touchdown victory on the road over a then-No. 18 Michigan State, the Ohio State Buckeyes came in at No. 10 in the third set of College Football Playoff rankings. A big point of debate on the ESPN show revealing the rankings the last few weeks has been whether or not the Buckeyes control their own destiny. Clearly despite the win, the committee does not have faith in OSU’s ability at this point.
Therefore, they will likely not only need to win out — beating Maryland, Michigan, and Northwestern — but will need some help to make it into the final four. Otherwise they will see themselves missing out on the playoff.
The top four were unsurprising with No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Clemson, No. 3 Notre Dame, and No. 4 Michigan. Georgia comes in at No. 5 and Oklahoma is sitting at No. 6.
The rankings include newly crowned Big Ten West champs No. 22 Northwestern. This could help the Buckeyes’ battle for the CFP. If NU wins its last two regular season games, and OSU ends up beating the Wildcats in the Big Ten Championship game, that would give Ohio State another win over a top-25 team.
Penn State also appeared in the rankings, coming in at No. 14. Also of note, Luke Fickell’s Cincinnati Bearcats come in at No. 24, and the Joe Burrow quarterbacked LSU Tigers are sitting at seventh.