Ohio State Football: How the Buckeyes can clinch the Big Ten East in 2017

Ohio State football remains a dark-horse to secure one of the four College Football Playoff spots available, but they are sitting in the driver’s seat for the Big Ten East title.

The Buckeyes (8-2, 6-1 Big Ten) sit a game up on Michigan State, Penn State and Michigan in the division, but already hold the tiebreaker over both the Spartans and Nittany Lions.

Of course, the regular season finale for Ohio State will be with arch-rival Michigan next week, as Urban Meyer’s crew first takes on Illinois this Saturday.

For the Buckeyes to clinch a week early, they would need Michigan State (7-3, 5-2), Penn State (8-2, 5-2) and Michigan (8-2, 5-2) to all fall this weekend. Losses by the Spartans and Nittany Lions would make next Saturday’s game with the Wolverines a winner-take-all contest.

Rutgers (4-6, 2-3) sits in fifth followed by Maryland (4-6, 2-5) and Indiana (4-6, 1-6).

Considering Illinois (2-8, 0-7) hasn’t won a league game this year and has scored just 97 points over seven of them, you can bet Ohio State’s divisional rivals are not expecting the upset to happen.

Ohio State is also gunning for a marquee showdown with Wisconsin (10-0, 7-0) in the league championship game in December. The Badgers have already secured the West title with dates vs. Michigan and Minnesota remaining on the schedule.

J.T. Barrett has experienced an up-and-down season at quarterback for the Buckeyes, throwing for over 300 yards three times, but also being held under 200 in two games. He has 2,557 yards and 30 touchdowns on the year.

Next: NFL Mock Draft 2018: First round after Week 11 edition

Mike Weber and J.K. Dobbins for a talented backfield duo with Barrett, as both combined for 284 yards in a win vs. Michigan State last week.