Thursday, October 3, 2013

Mediocre Big Ten Sinks Ohio State

Ohio State has won all 17 games since Urban Meyer took over as coach in 2012. Last year, the Buckeyes went 12-0 but didn't even get to play in the Big Ten championship game because they were on a one-year bowl ban. This year, it's looking promising that they might go 12-0 again.

If they do, they'll play in the Big Ten championship game for sure. But then does that mean they'll get to play in the BCS National Championship Game if they win?

Right now, that looks like, at best, a 50-50 proposition.

In the latest simulated BCS standings, Ohio State is a distant fifth, behind Alabama, Oregon, Clemson and Stanford. It's barely ahead of one-loss Georgia, which at No 7 is the highest ranked team among those with a loss. These standings are pretty close to the real thing, since five of the six BCS computer ratings are available and the AP Poll is used to stand in for the Harris Interactive Poll, which is scheduled to come out next Monday.

The Buckeyes, despite ranking No. 3 in the Coaches Poll, aren't getting much love from the computers. Their placements of seventh, 12th, 13th, 14th and 20th put their overall computer ranking at No. 11. Some of this may be blamed on Ohio State's weak non-conference schedule that includes San Diego State and Florida A&M, an awful FCS program that did its job in dragging down the Buckeyes' computer rankings despite a 76-0 drubbing.

Ohio State entered Big Ten play last week and held off Wisconsin. This week, it'll face Northwestern, another ranked team. It is presumed that once they're playing conference teams, the Buckeyes' computer rankings will float back up. But that is far from assured thanks to the Big Ten's lackluster standing among the computers.

(FULL ARTICLE @ BLEACHER REPORT)

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