Despite a 13-10 loss to the Indiana Hoosiers in the Big Ten Championship Game on Saturday, the Ohio State Buckeyes are in great shape heading into the College Football Playoff. The kind of shape where they're not far off from where they would've been had they won the B1G title game.
CBS Sports' John Talty and Chris Hummer nailed the Buckeyes landing a second-round matchup with a first-round bye, and even captured the essence of OSU's ranking: unchanged, besides moving behind IU, after the Big Ten Championship Game.
"The Buckeyes are all but guaranteed an opening-round bye, but the loss to Indiana raises the question of how far they'll fall in the final rankings -- behind only Indiana, or potentially behind one-loss champions Georgia and Texas Tech as well. What matters most: Ohio State is safely in the top four. The Buckeyes lost their final game before the playoff last season and still went on to win the national title. Replicating that script wouldn't bother anyone in Columbus," they wrote.
2025 Indiana may become Ohio State's 2024 Oregon
So you beat the Buckeyes in what was basically your homefield in a one-score game, huh, IU? Well, the 2024 Oregon Ducks won in the non-elimination matchup. The CFP rematch certainly didn't go the Ducks' way.
The Hoosiers may have another thing coming if these two teams meet again. Julian Sayin got his dud game out of the way, by his standards, and he still dropped 258 passing yards and threw a touchdown pass to Carnell Tate, who looks like he's still not fully healthy, recovering from an undisclosed lower-body injury.
By the time the CFP begins, OSU will be healthier. Close to fully healthy, even.
Indiana will be in a similar place. The talent advantage has always been fully in the Buckeyes' favor, though. The Hoosiers saw the planets align in Indianapolis, finally becoming a relevant team to the class of the Big Ten.
They might want to live in this moment. IU is still a program with 0 CFP wins in its history that may not be so lucky next time OSU is their opponent.