The Ohio State Buckeyes' 14-7 win over the Texas Longhorns is no longer the best win by a country mile on OSU's undefeated resume this season. After the Longhorns lost in the "Swamp" to the Florida Gators, Steve Sarkisian's Longhorns are 3-2 and unranked, with 101 more votes than the Washington Huskies, who Ohio State dominated 24-6 in Week 5 at Husky Stadium.
CBS Sports' Brad Crawford sees Ryan Day and Co. having a chance for redemption, though, with trips to Champaign, Illinois, and Ann Arbor, Michigan, to take on the Fighting Illini and TTUN. Crawford also mentioned the Penn State Nittany Lions' trip to Columbus on November 1, but their embarrassing loss to the UCLA Bruins similarly took shine from that potential win.
"The Buckeyes toppled preseason No. 1 Texas in the opener, a win that may not look as sexy as the season matures considering the Longhorns fell outside of the AP poll this week. There are more opportunities for Ryan Day's group to impress, however. The defending national champions travel to ranked Illinois this weekend and battle Michigan in Ann Arbor in the regular-season finale. The home bout with Penn State in a few weeks lost much of its luster after the Nittany Lions tanked at UCLA," Crawford wrote.
Texas and Penn State could become good wins for Ohio State
Yahoo Sports’ Nick Bromberg doesn't believe the Nittany Lions and Longhorns are out of the College Football Playoff race yet. In fact, Bromberg has confidence that a 9-3 record could be enough for at least one of them to reach the 12-team CFP field.
“As Penn State has two games remaining against ranked opponents, Texas has four. And the jury may still be out on just how good Florida is. Two of the Gators’ three losses are to teams currently ranked in the top 15 and South Florida appears to be one of the best teams in the American Conference. The Gators could still finish at .500 or better despite a schedule that includes eight ranked opponents,” Bromberg wrote.
“Texas, meanwhile, also has games against No. 12 Georgia and No. 6 Texas A&M. Not only is there a real — if unlikely — path to the playoff as a 9-3 at-large team, the Longhorns are also still in the thick of the SEC title race. For now, anyway.”
Texas has the Red River Rivalry at the Cotton Bowl with the No. 6 Oklahoma Sooners, the Kentucky Wildcats in Lexington, the Mississippi State Bulldogs in Starkville, the Vanderbilt Commodores, the Georgia Bulldogs Between the Hedges, the Arkansas Razorbacks, and the Texas A&M Aggies remaining on the schedule.
Penn State has the Northwestern Wildcats, Iowa State Hawkeyes in Iowa City, OSU at the "Shoe," the Indiana Hoosiers, the Michigan State Spartans in East Lansing, the Nebraska Cornhuskers, and the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in Piscataway the rest of the way.
The Longhorns have a steeper uphill climb than the Nittany Lions. But making the CFP field will need almost everything to break right for both of them.