Does Ohio State have a shot at the CFP if just 8 games played?

The Buckeyes saw their game canceled this weekend, which brings up the question if they’ll have enough data points to be included in the CFP.

Once again COVID-19 is running rampant in the college football world. The SEC has more than half of its scheduled games this week postponed: No. 1 Alabama at LSU, No. 5 Texas A&M at Tennessee, No. 12 Georgia at Missouri and No. 24 Auburn at Mississippi State. Arkansas coach Sam Pittman tested positive as well and will not be on the sidelines when they face off against No. 6 Florida. The SEC has discussed extending the regular season to fit these games in prior to their championship game.

Just today, the Big Ten announced an outbreak at Maryland, which has cancelled their game against No. 3 Ohio State this weekend. This situation is completely different however, as the Big Ten put themselves into a very difficult situation, trying to play 9 games in just 9 weeks.

You can blame first-year commissioner Kevin Warren for this one, due to their flip-flopping on whether or not to have a fall football season. Ultimately, the conference opted back in but put their backs against the wall to get all their games in.

In their first week, West favorites Wisconsin had to shut their program down after a very impressive win, missing two of their first three games. If the Badgers miss one more game this year, they aren’t eligible to play in the conference title game. Their chances at a College Football Playoff berth obviously has taken a huge hit, although they weren’t the necessarily the team expected to represent the conference.

That team is Ohio State, and by missing their game this week, it brings up the question of if the Buckeyes would be worthy of a CFP spot if they are able to play their remaining 4 regular season games, along with their championship cross-over final weekend.

It’s obviously important, as multiple analysts have projected the Irish to face off against Ohio State in the semifinals of the CFP. Does this weeks cancelation effect OSU in a negative way?

Potentially it does, but the selection committee already knew they would be dealing with different circumstances this season. Ohio State’s biggest game so far was against Penn State, who is now 0-3 going into this weekend. Maryland would have been a test, but that isn’t happening. Michigan is down and their only other remaining ranked opponent is No. 10 Indiana.

The first ranking of the CFP will be on Tuesday, November 24th, and will really tell the story of how they will view teams going forward. One analyst believes that the SEC and ACC could bump the Big Ten out of a spot in the playoffs.

Heather Dinich might be in the minority at the moment but brings up an interesting scenario. With those four teams including the Irish having more data points than Ohio State, even if the Buckeyes play the rest of their games, it might be difficult for the committee to select OSU into the final four.

Personally, I feel like this year the committee will heavily weigh on the look test. If after the season concludes and OSU looks like one of the best four teams in the country, they should be in, but honestly who the hell knows.

This season has already taken some odd twists and turns, as we know it’s still odd looking at the ACC standings, but it’s nice to see Notre Dame at the top of the list. Expect more games to be canceled and more drama as we inch closer to the CFP committee making their final selections.

At this point it’s too early to tell if this is a death blow to Ohio State’s chances for a berth in the CFP, but it’s certainly not good.