Ohio State Football: Buckeyes crush Trojans in Cotton Bowl

1. We’re going to start talking about Playoff expansion again

No. 5 Ohio State and No. 8 USC and No. 4 Alabama were being discussed for the final spot up until the final rankings came out on Selection Sunday. The committee decided to stick with the 1-loss Crimson Tide over either of the two 2-loss conference champions. That set off a firestorm of what the selection criteria ought to be and whether or not both USC and Ohio State each belonged in the Playoff as part of an expanded field.

That discussion is going to be rehashed through the weekend ad nauseam. That’s not a new problem, and it’s not something that jilted Buckeye fans are going to find any measure of respite from. We will never know whether or not this Ohio State team could have made a deep run that last year’s squad did not. Still, Playoff expansion talks will live on.

There’s no doubt that the current Playoff system is better than the BCS. If for no other reason, more teams get a crack at winning it all than before. At the end of the day college football fans want to see top-level football, regardless of how many postseason games are to be played.

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Perhaps someday expansion will become a reality. For now we’ll have to settle for one more offseason of hypotheticals and mock brackets. Ohio State will serve as one more piece of ammunition for a six-team Playoff at the bare minimum, but will they be enough to force change? Not likely.