What Ohio State’s canceled game means for their CFP chances

Ohio State will not be playing this weekend because of a high number of COVID cases within the Maryland program. How does this cancellation affect the Buckeyes’ playoff chances?

Ohio State has looked like a dominant team through three weeks of play. They haven’t been tested at any point in their games so far. If the CFP committee were to rank teams starting now, Ohio State would likely be either two or three in those rankings.

Now they don’t have a game this week. They won’t be playing Maryland as previously scheduled. That gives them one less data point for the committee to look at and compare against other teams. The maximum number of games they can now play is eight.

Ohio State also doesn’t have much wiggle room to qualify for the Big Ten Championship game now. They can only afford one more cancellation in order to make it to that game. That is of course unless the entire league has too many cancellations.

Buckeye fans shouldn’t worry too much though. As long as Ohio State continues to win all of their games and look good doing it, they will make the College Football Playoff. Unless they end up playing only four or five games, they won’t be left out of the playoff.

This does put pressure on the Buckeyes to look extra good in all of their games though. They don’t have a tough schedule remaining, with Indiana being the only ranked team left on their regular-season schedule. They would only get one other ranked opponent in the Big Ten Championship.

As long as the players and staff continue to be diligent in their own COVID protocols, they will be fine. The only thing that can stop them from making the playoff is themselves getting sick.