• Committee has not rewarded teams with bad losses,

In the four-year history of the College Football Playoff, only three of the 16 participants were undefeated. The other 13 each had one loss. And all of those 13 losses were either closely contested or against outstanding teams or both.

That’s in stark contrast to Ohio State, which is ranked sixth in the current playoff rankings and battling No. 5 Oklahoma for the potential fourth spot if No. 4 Georgia loses to No. 1 Alabama on Saturday in the SEC Championship Game.

The Buckeyes lost 49-20 at Purdue on Oct. 20. The Boilermakers are 6-6. It harkens back to last season, when the Buckeyes finished 11-2 and Big Ten champions but were bypassed for the four-team playoff, in part because of a bewildering 55-24 loss at Iowa in October.

“We look at every game,” said committee chairman Rob Mullens, the Oregon athletic director.

“It’s up to each committee member how they weigh them. Obviously we look at game 1 through game 12 or 13. As I mentioned earlier, we saw the impressive (Ohio State) win over Michigan, the complete game. But I saw the Maryland game the week before (a 52-51 overtime victory), and every other game. It’s about the full body of work. That’s why we watch the games. That’s why we discuss it. That’s why we look at the data.”

But the committee’s history seems solid with a reluctance to reward a team that’s been blown out. Here are the losses by the playoff teams:

So none of those defeats are as debilitating as Ohio State’s loss at Purdue. The Buckeyes have ground to make up in their Big Ten Championship Game against Northwestern.

“We just know we have to go out and make a statement,” Buckeye quarterback Dwayne Haskins Jr. said.

Georgia’s loss this season was 36-16 at LSU, which is ranked 10th. OU’s loss this season was 48-45 in Dallas to Texas, which is ranked 14th.