The Ohio State football team was ranked second in the first College Football Playoff rankings of the year. While they are ranked second, they would be the five-seed in the Playoff because Oregon is ranked first. Obviously, Ohio State can change that if they are able to beat them in the Big Ten Championship.
With this ranking, we got some insight as to what the Committee thinks about the Buckeyes. Some were surprised to see them ranked higher than Georgia. Georgia is rated higher than the Ohio State Buckeyes in both the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll.
Warde Manuel, the AD at Michigan, is the CFP Chair this year. Yes, that sucks, but he told us what the Committee thinks about this team. He also told us why they are ranked ahead of Georgia. Really, it comes down to the fact that Ohio State's loss is more impressive than Georgia's.
The CFP Committee likes the Ohio State football team's loss more than Georgia's
When asked specifically about why Ohio State was ranked over Georgia, Manuel had this to say:
"It was a close analysis, but in the end, we just felt that Ohio State was a more consistent performer at this point in time, and their loss to the No. 1 -- their only loss is to No. 1 Oregon, and that's how the committee came out with the decision."Warde Manuel
It seems that the Committee values who you lose to almost more than they care about who a team beats. Ohio State's win over Penn State this past week certainly helped them score that #2 ranking, but the fact that they only lost to Oregon by one on the road solidified it.
The Buckeyes know what they need to do to improve their ranking. They have to win out, including beat #8 Indiana and beat Oregon in the Big Ten Championship. If they do that, they can get that number-one overall seed and get a first-round bye in the Playoff.
Even if they aren't able to beat Oregon in a rematch, Ohio State is firmly in a spot to make the 12-team Playoff fairly easily.