Ohio State Football: Tigers and Buckeyes top 2 teams in 2020
Coming off an outstanding season and returning plenty of talent, the Ohio State football team is one of the favorites to win the national title.
While still trying to come to terms with a series of questionable calls from the referees in that 2019 Fiesta Bowl matchup Clemson and Ohio State are atop of the 2020 ESPN college football rankings.
The Clemson Tigers and Ohio State Buckeyes will be the top 2 teams when college football kicks off this season. According to numbers from ESPN’s Football Power Index and the Allstate Playoff Predictor, Clemson has a 36 percent chance to win it all this season followed by Ohio State with a 21 percent chance. The Tigers have a 26 percent chance of becoming an undefeated national champion while Ohio State’s chances are only 6 percent.
Despite the high chances of the Tigers returning to the national championship, their schedule this season is a direct correlation to these favorable odds. Due to an apparent lack of competition in the ACC, they have better than a 90 percent chance to win every conference matchup.
Their toughest one will most likely be at home against Louisville. The toughest non-conference game this season will be against Notre Dame in South Bend.
To make it clear, both Clemson and Ohio State will not be underdogs throughout the regular season. However, the Buckeyes’ schedule will be another gauntlet in quest of reaching the college football playoff for a second straight year.
They will travel to Eugene, Oregon for their week 2 matchup to face a top-15 team in the Oregon Ducks. After a non-conference showdown, Ohio State will have to play in at least 4 top-25 conference games against Nebraska, Penn State, Indiana and Michigan.
Assuming the Buckeyes reach the Big Ten Championship, the Wisconsin Badgers will most likely be the team that stands in the way for their way to get back to the playoff. This Wisconsin team has high expectations going into this season.
The Badgers are predicted to be the 4th team that gets into the college football playoff, according to ESPN’s FPI which gives Wisconsin a 34 percent chance to reach the CFP and a 6 percent chance of winning the national championship.
This means that before the Ohio State Buckeyes even have the opportunity for a rematch against Clemson, they will have to beat at least 6 top-25 teams in Oregon, Penn State, Nebraska, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Despite these drastic differences in competitive schedules, Ohio State’s path will prove to be more beneficial than a Clemson cakewalk to the playoff.
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With quarterbacks Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields, the Tigers and Buckeyes will be teams to watch all season long in hopes of a highly anticipated rematch in the National Championship Game.