Ohio State Football: Inconsistent committee passes over Buckeyes

Ohio State football, despite being the Big Ten Champion, was not included in the College Football Playoff field. The Buckeyes were snubbed.

The committee didn’t need to overthink it, but they did. Ohio State, despite having two losses, defeated Wisconsin to become the Big Ten Champions on Saturday night. That win gave them something that the Alabama Crimson Tide did not, a conference championship. Yet it was Ohio State that was left out of the College Football Playoff.

The decision seemed fairly straightforward at that point. After all, wasn’t Ohio State chosen chosen in 2014 over TCU and Baylor because they were a conference champion and those two Big 12 teams weren’t?

But what about last season? The Big Ten Champion, Penn State, was excluded in favor of Ohio State. Perhaps the committee had evolved? Maybe they had reached an understanding that a conference championship doesn’t make you the better team. And now we’re right back where we started.

The College Football Playoff committee needs to make up their minds. Either conference championship games matter or they don’t. If they do matter then there’s no excuse for putting Alabama in front of Ohio State. If they don’t matter then the committee needs to stop trumpeting them during their media sessions.

There’s no doubt that the playoff format is better than what the BCS was, but it’s clear that it’s not perfect. This year’s results should work as a continued catalyst to getting it right.

Next: Latest 2018 NFL Mock Draft entering Week 14

Ohio State could have quelled this discussion by taking care of Iowa. They weren’t able to do that, forcing their fate into the hands of an indecisive committee. The Buckeyes won their conference, but apparently that still does/doesn’t matter?