Your (almost) daily dose of good-natured, Ohio State banter.
On Tuesday night the first College Football Playoff rankings show of the season will air on ESPN. Even though there is still a month before the actual playoff field is set, this rankings show will be fun because it will give the rest of the country a glimpse into what the field could look like. Much like previous initial rankings show, the rankings will undoubtedly shift numerous times until the second Sunday in December.
Now that we are in November, some conference races are starting to clear up a bit. In the ACC, unless there are a number of upsets, Miami and SMU should be squaring off for the ACC title, as well as a bye in the first round of the playoff. The Big Ten race still has a couple of questions to answer, but right now Oregon, Indiana, and Ohio State all control their own destiny when it comes to moving on to Indianapolis to play in the Big Ten Championship Game. The SEC is a little messier since five teams will enter this week’s play with one conference loss.
With more and more playoff projections coming out, today we are looking at our preferred opponent for Ohio State in the first round of the College Football Playoff. With today’s question, we are presuming that the Buckeyes win the rest of their regular season games but fall to Oregon in the Big Ten Championship Game. Obviously we hope Ohio State is able to exact some revenge on the Ducks in Indianapolis next month, and end up earning a first round bye. For entertainment purposes though, today we are dreaming about a game at Ohio Stadium in December in the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff.
Today’s question: Who would you want to see Ohio State host in a CFP first round game this year?
We’d love to hear your choices. Either respond to us on Twitter at @Landgrant33 or leave your choice in the comments.
Brett’s answer: Alabama
It would be great to see two teams that squared off in the first year of the four-team playoff meet in the first year of the 12-team playoff. Plus, it would give Ohio State and Big Ten fans something they’ve been wanting to see for years. A team from the south heading north to play in December. Then again, with how the weather has been in Columbus during the summer and fall, it wouldn’t surprise me to see it be 75 degrees when a potential playoff game is played at Ohio Stadium this year.
Weather isn’t the only storyline that would make this matchup juicy. Following the retirement of head coach Nick Saban, three Alabama players transferred to Ohio State. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know the impact that safety Caleb Downs and center Seth McLaughlin have had on the Buckeyes this year. Along with Downs and McLaughlin, freshman quarterback Julian Sayin also made the move to Columbus, and will make a strong case to be the starting quarterback of the Buckeyes in 2025.
Then there is the fact that Alabama isn’t quite the buzzsaw under new head coach Kalen DeBoer this year that they were under Saban. The Crimson Tide already has lost to Vanderbilt and Tennessee this year, while nearly losing to South Carolina, and blowing a 30-7 halftime lead to Georgia before freshman receiver Ryan Williams gave them the lead back with his miraculous catch-and-run late in the fourth quarter. Even though Alabama has a versatile quarterback in Jalen Milroe, the Crimson Tide have struggled with consistency throughout the season moving the football.
Just imagine if the first weekend of the College Football Playoff featured these two titans over the sport. There is no doubt this would be the marquee matchup of the opening weekend, and it would be a ratings bonanza for ABC/ESPN. Even though the NFL will be airing two games on Saturday to try and take some eyeballs away from the CFP, this is pretty much the only matchup that could threaten the number that the NFL will draw.
Matt’s answer: Miami
Obviously, I would prefer for Ohio State to not be playing during the first round of the College Football Playoff, since that would likely mean that they won the Big Ten Championship and got a bye into the quarterfinals. However, for the purposes of this exercise, I can certainly imagine some pretty incredible matchups taking place in Ohio Stadium in mid-December.
Like Brett, I would love to see an SEC power like Georgia or Texas have to come north during the winter months and play a game in The Shoe, which will undoubtedly be filled with over 106,000 well-lubricated fans. I would also enjoy seeing a team like BYU and Boise State come to Columbus for the novelty of it, but none of those options are at the top of my list.
For some reasons similar to the UGA and ‘Bama options, I would kill to see the Miami Hurricanes have to come and play a cold-weather playoff game. Do you remember how awful the Miami Dolphins looked when they had to go to Kansas City to play the Chiefs in the playoffs? That was funny, and I would like to enjoy that level of humor, but with an infinitely less likable team than the Fins, and my favorite team in place of the Chiefs.
There is also the fact that one of the best experiences of my life came in 2004 when I was in Sun Devil Stadium and watched Jim Tressel and his scrappy squad win the national title over Larry Coker’s Canes. What an up-and-down, emotionally satisfying game that was. So, when given the chance to relive that game, even in a far less hospitable climate, I am going to jump on it.
The thing is, there’s no guarantee that Columbus will have freezing temperatures or sleet and snow on the weekend of Dec. 20 and 21, but just the threat of that would be fun to see how the Sunbelt teams handled it. I personally would take the Buckeyes against anybody in college football on a neutral field, but having the first playoff game in Ohio Stadium history be one blanketed with a layer of snow against a team that goes to South Beach after practice would be nothing short of poetry.