Ohio State Football: Beating Michigan matters, even when it doesn’t

Beating Michigan always matters. However, this year it seems less important for the Ohio State football team to do so than it usually does.

The Ohio State football team enters their annual rivalry game against That Team Up North ranked No. 1 in the College Football Playoff rankings. The Buckeyes leapfrogged the LSU Tigers after beating the Penn State Nittany Lions last week in a sloppy game when they turned the ball over multiple times.

The Playoff Committee must have noticed how good this team is if they can play that sloppy and still beat a Top 10 team by double digits.

Ohio State will head into Ann Arbor with a record of 11-0. LSU and Clemson are still undefeated coming into this week, and with Oregon losing again it is most likely a one-loss team will take over the fourth spot in the playoff at the end of the regular season.

With that being said, it is pretty safe to say that a one-loss Big Ten Champion will get in at this point. Obviously we want our Buckeyes to run the table and leave no doubt, and we always want to pound on the Wolverines, but winning The Game seems less important this season.

I know we hate to think this way, but let’s put our dominance and standing into even more perspective.

Let’s say Ohio State trips up on the road and heads into Indianapolis at 11-1, but handily defeats either Minnesota or Wisconsin, finishing 12-1 and Big Ten Champions again. I see no reason the committee doesn’t still put the Buckeyes into the Final Four with a chance at winning the national championship.

So, with Michigan coming into this weekend’s game at 9-2 and ranked No. 13, and the fact we always want to beat TTUN, this game has little bearing on our shot at winning the entire thing. I find some solace in knowing the Wolverines mean that little to us even during rivalry week.