Unfortunately, if Ohio State doesn’t win the Big Ten Championship Game, it won’t be getting a coveted first-round bye in the College Football Playoff.
With Northwestern on the road then Indiana and Michigan at home to finish the season, the Buckeyes will be highly expected to take on the Oregon Ducks in a rematch of the lone Ohio State loss this season.
That might not be their only battle though.
According to a CFP projection from Bleacher Report’s Joe Tansey, the two opponents could meet in the semifinal, obviously should both win their quarterfinal games and Ohio State win its first-round battle.
In these rankings, Ohio State will base Boise State and then, if it wins, face BYU before a potential rematch with Oregon. For Oregon, it would have to beat the winner of Tennessee and Indiana.
Based on the initial CFP rankings, the 12-team playoff’s first-ever on-campus games would be:
12-seed Boise State @ 5-seed Ohio State
9-seed Indiana @ 8-seed Tennessee
11-seed Alabama @ 6-seed Texas
10-seed Notre Dame @ 7-seed Penn State pic.twitter.com/tjMeU4MpCJ— Front Office Sports (@FOS) November 6, 2024
Now, with three weeks and conference championship games still on the horizon, these are destined to change at least a bit from the final AP product.
However, if you’re the Buckeyes, one should be wetting their beak at the chance to take on and potentially eliminate the Ducks, who took them down in Eugene earlier in the season.