The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Buckeyes must keep winning, and impressively
COLUMBUS >> Most, if not many, people figured Ohio State’s chances for a college football playoff berth died with an embarrassing loss to Purdue on Oct. 20.
The Buckeyes’ response to that notion on Nov. 24?
Hold on... Not so fast.
The Buckeyes ravaged Michigan’s top-ranked defense for 567 yards, and an OSU defense that barely survived a trip to Maryland last week limited the Wolverines, paving the way for a 62-39 win at Ohio Stadium in a game — result-wise and style-wise — that no one saw coming.
With the win, Ohio State hoped to make a statement that maybe — just maybe — their playoff hopes aren’t as dead as everyone thinks they are.
“Definitely,” OSU defensive end Dre’Mont Jones said.
“This was the game of the year for us. After we lost to Purdue, we knew we needed (Michigan) to win so we could play them and just give them a game, like they can’t mess with us. Gotta blow them out, and we did that.”
And they did in a fashion that caught everyone — either at Ohio Stadium or parked in front of their television set — off guard.
Quarterback Dwayne Haskins carved through the proud Michigan pass defense like a knife through a Thanksgiving turkey, completing 19 passes for 318 yards and five touchdowns.
Michigan came into the game giving up only 123 passing yards per game. Ohio State had 222 at the half and by game’s end had more than doubled the Wolverines’ weekly allowance.
An OSU defense that has been marred by missed tackles, iffy linebacker play and youthful mistakes by an inexperienced secondary held Michigan quarterback Shea Patterson to 187 passing yards, but on 20 completions — a manageable 9.4 yard-per-reception average.
It was the demonstrative win the 10th-ranked Buckeyes needed against Michigan, which was fourth in the playoff rankings.
But was the performance good enough to impress the pollsters to forget — or lessen the importance of — the brutal loss at Purdue?
OSU coach Urban Meyer shrugged his shoulders in regard to chasing style points that, when coupled with the victory, might impress the selection committee.
“No. That’s been brought up before,” Meyer said. “We just played as hard as we possibly could and kept going and kept going and kept going. And they were scoring a little bit too, so we had to keep scoring. So, we don’t — that’s not indicative of even comes across as a thought during the course of the game.”
If there’s one thing that is left evident by the College Football Playoff system — and maybe more so by the Bowl Championship Series before it — is that it’s better to lose early to a bad team than it is to lose late to a good team.
The rationale is that if a team loses early, it has more time to climb back up in the polls throughout the later weeks of the season and prove the early loss was an aberration.
Back in 2014 when Ohio State lost to Virginia Tech in Week 2, the Buckeyes won 11 in a row to end the regular season, including an impressive 42-28 win over Michigan and a 59-0 annihilation of Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship game.
The Buckeyes rebuilt their resume after the loss to Virginia Tech, and did it with their backup quarterback Cardale Jones.
But this year, Ohio State double-whammied itself in the loss to Purdue. Not only did they lose in the second half of the season, but it was an ugly, ugly loss in which their defense was exposed as being fraudulent, and their offense couldn’t run the ball.
Back in 2014, Ohio State made an example of playoff contender Wisconsin in the league championship game — and that helped the Buckeyes get into the playoff race where they beat Alabama and Oregon to win the national title and validate the committee’s decision to let them in the four-team field.
But even if Ohio State pile-drives a four-loss Northwestern team in Indianapolis, will it be enough?
Probably not.
Ohio State likely needs help.
Some has already been provided.
No. 9. UCF lost its quarterback, McKenzie Milton, to an ugly leg injury and he had surgery. The Knights likely won’t be the same team — either on the field or in perception — without him.
No. 8 Washington State took itself out of the picture with a 28-15 loss to rival Washington on Nov. 23.
And of course, No. 4 Michigan is out now the loss to Ohio State.
So at worst, Ohio State will be seventh in this week’s playoff ratings, presumably behind Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame, Georgia, Oklahoma and LSU.
Alabama, Georgia and LSU are all in the SEC, so there are built-in losses there.
And Texas-Oklahoma is still on tap. OSU will be rooting for former OSU assistant Tom Herman (Texas’ coach) in that one.
Help is out there, but nothing is for certain.
The overriding thought after the dismantling of Michigan was, “Where has this been all year?”
If Ohio State played against Purdue as it did against Michigan, critics say, the Buckeyes wouldn’t be in the position of needing help to get into the playoff picture.
Meyer wrinkled his nose at the concept. He said asking, “Where has this team been for the last two months?” is disrespectful to other teams and players who face the Buckeyes.
“It’s really hard to win a college football game,” Meyer said. “So, with all due respect, there’s never a bad win.”
But there are bad losses, and Ohio State has one to its name.
The Buckeyes came into the Michigan game needing its best game of the season to get past the Wolverines.
Between Haskins’ passing, the offensive line’s stellar play, the defense’s vast improvement over last week’s 52-51 nail-biter at Maryland, and an aggressive mindset, the Buckeyes got the win they needed.
Of course, Ohio State can’t afford a hangover loss — or even an unimpressive win — against Northwestern in the Big Ten title game if it hopes to keep the playoff hopes alive.
Even with the win over Michigan, the margin for error is tight.
But the hopes aren’t dead, which is what the Buckeyes have been saying all along.
“We’re not taking any breaks,” senior Parris Campbell said. “We have another mission and that’s to win the Big Ten championship. We’ve got to get to work next week and prepare to beat Northwestern.”