The Ohio State football program gets to enjoy a bye week during the College Football Playoff this weekend. Last season, they had to play a home game in the first round. It obviously worked out, as the Buckeyes ended up winning a national championship.
Ohio State will face the winner of Texas A&M and Miami in the Cotton Bowl. If A&M wins, it will be a de facto home game for the Aggies, since the game is in Dallas. The Ohio State Buckeyes dealt with that just fine last season, beating Texas in the Cotton Bowl despite the circumstances being the same.
However, there is a chance that the Buckeyes get to take on the Hurricanes. It would give them a shot to shut up one of the fan bases that keep believing they are entitled to Jeremiah Smith transferring to their school just because he's from the South Florida area.
The Ohio State football team should want to face Miami in the College Football Playoff
Smith is going to be motivated to dominate in the CFP after he was snubbed from winning a major award. If the Buckeyes face the Canes, that will mean Smith's motivation reaches an even higher level. He hears that chatter from Miami fans, and he wants them to be quiet just as much as Ohio State fans do.
Both Miami and Texas A&M are good teams. Neither game will be easy. Still, the Buckeyes are one of the most talented teams in the country. The only team that can give them a real challenge is Indiana, as we saw in the Big Ten Championship Game. It would be surprising to see anyone else compete with them.
Whoever ends up facing the Buckeyes will get a very focused team after the loss in Indy. Smith is going to be determined to show everyone who didn't vote for him to win the Biletnikoff that they were wrong to do so. It could be a very ugly game for the opposing defense.