Ohio State Football: Can Buckeyes hold on to No. 1 seed in CFP?

The Ohio State football team completed one of the greatest regular seasons in college football history, but can they hold on to the No. 1 seed in the CFP?

Ohio State, LSU, and Clemson all took care of business as expected on Saturday. However, Oregon pulled the upset and knocked Utah out of the picture which made the Big 12 Championship Game a de facto quarterfinal.

Oklahoma escaped Baylor in overtime to likely clinch a berth in the CFP. Since the field of four is all but officially set, the question now becomes where will the teams be seeded?

Clemson and Oklahoma are locked in the No. 3 and No. 4 spots respectively. Ohio State and LSU have flipped back and forth between No. 1 and No. 2 since the initial CFP rankings were released and that debate will be where all the drama resides tonight and tomorrow morning.

The Buckeyes checked in at No. 1 even without having resume as the Tigers had at the time, but LSU’s win in Tuscaloosa catapulted them atop the rankings. Ohio State has since strengthened their resume in dominating fashion and has been the more complete team all season long.

The Tigers’ defense has looked impressive over the last two weeks answering some question marks, but be careful not to overreact. Neither Texas A&M or Georgia have close to the caliber of offenses LSU will face in the CFP. I’m still not completely sold on the defense.

Ohio State completed a 14-point comeback scoring 27 unanswered points to win the Big Ten Championship for the third straight season. The Buckeyes boast five wins over current CFP Top 25 teams as opposed to four for the Tigers.

Ohio State has also been the more dominant team as they’ve outscored those ranked opponents by 25.2 points per game. In comparison, LSU played an FCS team and beat their ranked opponents by an average of 12.3 points per game.

The case for No. 1 is clear-cut and should be the Buckeyes, but what would Selection Sunday be without drama surrounding the SEC team involved.

Ohio State recovered well and showed elite resiliency and gave no indications why they should slip from No. 1 to No. 2 especially after becoming the first team in college football history to go 10-0 in conference play.

So who should be No. 1? The answer is simple, it’s Ohio State. I believe the CFP picture will look like this when it’s released.

Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl: No. 1 Ohio State vs. No. 4 Oklahoma

PlayStation Fiesta Bowl: No. 2 LSU vs No. 3 Clemson

Only time will tell how things shake out, but this is what should happen if the committee wants to complete their most consistent year to date.