college-football – Third Down With Devin

Why the Buckeyes are poised to go back-to-back

The Ohio State Buckeyes have had a stellar start to their quest to defend their National Championship from last season. Despite some doubt from the national media, the Buckeyes have picked up big wins against ranked teams including Texas and Illinois. Currently, they are 7-0 and ranked number one in the nation, but the question remains if they will be able to keep up this momentum as they enter crucial late-season games.

Last season, after a brutal loss to Michigan that made some feel like their season was over, Ohio State went on arguably the most impressive playoff run in college football history, as they won four straight games to win the National Championship. It wasn’t just their offense or defense that led to their success, as both were the best in the country, and had almost no weaknesses.

Entering this season, Ohio State underwent major offseason changes, as it lost numerous key players, including quarterback Will Howard and wide receiver Emeka Egbuka. Although they have a weakened defensive line, the majority of their defense including the linebacker group and secondary improved significantly. Ultimately, the biggest question entering this season was how their offense would hold up with redshirt freshman Julian Sayin at quarterback.

Through seven weeks of the season Julian Sayin has not just met his expectations, he has blown them out of the water. Although he is given some help with the number one wide receiver in the country, Jermiah Smith, and an elite running game, he has been able to play carefree football and win games. Sayin currently has the highest completion percentage in the country at 78.4%, and the third highest QBR at 199.8. Despite his elite stats, when watching Ohio State’s offense, there is a clear leap that he still needs to take, as they are playing pretty conservatively with lots of screen passes. Similar to Will Howard last season, I believe Ryan Day will give Sayin the green light come playoff time to pass downfield more often and truly show his talent.

When it comes to the defense, they have been lights out, allowing on average only 5.9 points per game. Although the offense has been pretty good, the defense deserves almost all the credit as they force turnovers at a high rate and barely let the other team cross the 50-yard line. Although we will have to wait and see how they fare against a true offensive juggernaut like Indiana come playoff time, they have shown so far that they are the best in the country.

Ohio State has already won the national championship, and it is looking like they are on pace to win another, but nothing matters for them this season if they cannot beat Michigan. It will be no easy task to win in the Big House, but with Ohio State’s loaded talent, they have no excuse not to win.

Indiana should not be excluded from the College Football Playoffs

After Indiana’s blowout loss vs. Ohio State, the College Football Playoff race became much more interesting. The recent expansion to the 12-team playoff has sparked heavy debate: Should a team with more wins be ranked higher? Or should a team with a harder strength of schedule be ranked higher? Indiana was undefeated before entering Columbus; however, they have no playoff-defining wins, making many people skeptical about whether they deserve to qualify for the CFP. They question if Indiana should qualify over a two-loss team such as Georgia or Tennessee with “better losses.”

In the new system, the conference winners from the Power Five automatically qualify for the playoffs. The CFP Committee then decides the remaining seven teams. With Indiana’s loss to Ohio State, their likelihood of winning the Big Ten is slim to none. It will be up to the committee to decide whether they qualify.

Although the majority of sports media and fans are against Indiana given their easy strength of schedule, this team deserves to make the playoffs. Historically, Indiana has been viewed as a basketball powerhouse with limited success in football. Bringing in Curt Cignetti immediately changed all of that as his coaching has been the key to their success both offensively and defensively. Cignetti was arguably the best coach in college football this year and leaving him out of the playoffs would be disrespectful to what he has accomplished. Cignetti reasoned that Indiana’s collapse was due to the stadium’s loudness and the opposing team’s pass rush, which they had not experienced before this game. Given a second chance against another powerhouse football team, expect Indiana to stand their ground much stronger.

It seems everyone is arguing that Indiana’s blowout loss to Ohio State, the number two-ranked team in the country, is enough to eliminate them from playoff contention. The popular opinion is to include two-loss SEC teams. This argument is completely unfair to Indiana because Georgia and Tennessee had much worse losses: Georgia was blown out by Ole Miss and Tennessee lost to Arkansas. Both these losses are to teams who would be happy to be ranked by the end of the season. Despite this, losing to Ohio State is somehow considered worse.

Let’s not forget that Indiana has a very talented roster to complement Cignetti’s coaching. Kurtis Rourke is the most underrated quarterback in the country and only struggles when his offensive line doesn’t give him time to pass the ball. With Rourke’s elite throwing, Indiana statistically has one of the best offenses in the country; they are averaging 41.3 points per game which is the second highest in all of college football.

Ultimately, the stats don’t lie, and neither do the wins. Curt Cignetti has turned around Indiana’s football reputation and deserves to be given a college football playoff spot as a result.