The Ohio State Buckeyes have four games remaining in the 2025 season, having already run the table through eight games to earn the No. 1 overall ranking in the College Football Playoff Selection Committee's first rankings.
As Cleveland.com's Stefan Krajisnik believes, though, only one of them matters. And it's not the Purdue Boilermakers, UCLA Bruins, and Rutgers Scarlet Knights. It is that team that's one loss away from being knocked out of the College Football Playoff up north, though.
"The reality for Ohio State — an undefeated team fresh off winning a national title — is that it can pick its score the next three weeks. The Buckeyes can pad stats for their standout players, or they can take their foot off the pedal and let the clock run to triple zeroes," Krajisnik wrote.
"Regardless of which path Ohio State takes, the rest of November isn’t actually about Purdue, UCLA, and Rutgers. It’s about gearing up to end a four-game skid against rival Michigan."
Ohio State could be TTUN's College Football Playoff spoiler
OSU's rivalry week matchup may be the only one that matters for them, but that's not the case for TTUN. The Wolverines are closer in talent to the Northwestern Wildcats and Maryland Terrapins than the Buckeyes are to any of their remaining opponents. They'll have home-field advantage when Ohio State comes to town, but they won't for the others.
Should TTUN make it to rivalry week with two losses, OSU could be their College Football Playoff Grim Reaper. It'd be the perfect revenge payoff for last year's "The Game" in Columbus and the 2023 College Football Playoff National Championship Connor Stalions won them.
Life could be a dream for Buckeye fans if it gets to that. Given how swimmingly this season has gone in almost every aspect besides the RB room and the guard spots, maybe that sort of storybook regular season ending is possible.
But first, a trio of warmups against the Big Ten's bottom-feeders from all over the map.