Maybe. Week 11 is a ideal example of the unpredictability of college football. The Spartans finally snapped out of its losing streak last weekend against Rutgers – one of the Big Ten’s truly great high school teams. MI had no losses heading into the weekend, but it didn’t stay that way.
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On this past Saturday, both Clemson and MI lost on late field goals to unranked Pittsburgh and Iowa, while Washington fell to then-No. The previously undefeated Wolverines lost 14-13 to Iowa on Saturday night. Already, you can see major problems, second-guessing and questions of fairness looming. The answer: maybe not a whole lot. That Pitt loss could come back to haunt them. “I have not even thought about it one bit”, he said at his weekly press conference. But when he was asked what playing for a championship would mean, he reminded everyone where his focus is this week.
Before the season, this week’s meeting was expected to be one that would help determine which team in the East would play for a championship. Normally, I’d say there’s no way that could happen. It also has been ranked No. 1 at some in all of those seasons.
How Barrett plays this weekend against Michigan State will tell us whether or not the Buckeyes are ready to beat the Wolverines.
Well, that it’s murkier than it’s ever been, save for No. 1 Alabama, which deserves to be the country’s only near lock to be chosen for the four-team College Football Playoff. Beat Indiana and Ohio State, and they are heading to Indianapolis without muss or fuss. No. 19 Nebraska could win out and tie Wisconsin, but the Huskers would lose the tiebreaker based on their loss to UW. “Until we know better, we’ll head into the game and prepare like he won’t play”. Since then, the Cardinals have dominated the competition. As far as Louisville goes they have Lamar Jackson who was been the guy at Louisville.
“You can’t let praise or criticism get to you”, Wooden once said. A loss in the Apple Cup to Washington State will end the Huskies shot at a conference title. The Wolverines still control their own destiny in the East, and a playoff spot is waiting for them if they win the Big Ten. Rooting against Clemson and Ohio State is their best bet. He grew up a Buckeye fan. Before the college football season started, Ohio State, Michigan, and Michigan State were all ranked in the top twelve.
With two weeks left in the regular season, and an additional week remaining for the conference title games, there’s likely to be more shakeups. Wayne grad Robert Landers, a defensive tackle, is second on the team with 7½ tackles for a loss… L.J. Scott has rushed for more than 100 yards in three of those four games and the quarterback situation has stabilized with the job apparently belonging to Lima Central Catholic graduate Tyler O’Connor the rest of the season. Instead of getting fired, Coach Franklin now has a real chance to get his team into the playoffs.
What will the committee do with the Big Ten? A win this weekend would set up quite a showdown against rival MI to close the regular season. Then, they’ll need to follow that up with a win in the Big Ten title game.
If Michigan State beats Ohio State at home next week and Ohio State beats Michigan the week after, the Nittany Lions assuming they beat lowly Rutgers and the Spartans at home would win the East.
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Got all that? Barrett, Ohio State’s junior quarterback, does.
