Let’s get this out of the way: IU football won’t be making the newly-incorporated College Football Playoff anytime soon.
You already knew that.
Even in a Big Ten Conference that has been pretty mediocre all season compared to previous years, it’s shocking when a team other than Ohio State, Michigan State or Wisconsin wins the conference title.
A .500 record isn’t going to get you there, and a 4-8 record like IU’s definitely isn’t going to get you there.
That said, when a team like Ohio State has proven all season that it can deal with extreme adversity like it has, it’s hard to argue that it doesn’t belong in the inaugural big dance.
The Buckeyes lost arguably the most important part of their whole team in senior quarterback, and early Heisman contender, Braxton Miller before the season started after he injured his right shoulder for the second time in his career.
That left freshman J.T. Barrett with the unenviable task of filling Miller’s shoes.
So, what did Barrett do? Not much, other than lead the Buckeyes to a 12-1 record and an 11-game win streak to finish out the ?season.
Ohio State went undefeated in the conference and ranked in the top 25 in the country in several categories.
The Buckeyes were No. 23 in points allowed, No. 11 in rushing yards and fourth in points scored nationwide.
Nonetheless, after Barrett went down for the season with a broken ankle in the second-to-last game of the regular season against Michigan, it wouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone for the team to lay an egg when it faced a gritty No. 13 Wisconsin team the next week.
Again, though, they stepped up.
Sophomore third-string quarterback Cardale Jones and his Ohio State squad shut out the Badgers, dropping a Kurt Warner-esque 59 points on them in the process in Indianapolis
So don’t color me surprised that the College Football Playoff committee chose Ohio State as the final team in the playoff Sunday.
Sure, teams like Baylor and TCU had the offensive firepower to justify making it at the end of the season, but neither of them showed the positional depth and intestinal fortitude Ohio State showed throughout the season.
At the end of the day, that logjam at the No. 4 position in the country is so close that any one of the three teams has as strong a case for the tournament as the others.
But all the noise and complaining from pundits across the college football landscape ignores the fact that, despite what the naive may like to assume about the sport, it’s still a business.
Of the major universities, Ohio State is behind only Arizona State and Central Florida in enrollment size. It has one of the biggest alumni bases in the country, and it draws the most nationwide interest of any of the other contenders.
Ohio State, frankly, equals money for everyone involved.
Sure, it would be nice for every team that deserves a spot in the tournament to have a chance to play for the championship.
But until that tournament expands in a few years—and inevitably expands again after more complaints—that isn’t going to happen.
So sit back, relax, and enjoy the first in an upcoming tradition of tournaments that has been a long time coming.
aknorth@indiana.edu
