Ohio State Has Alabama Beat in Every Metric to Make the College Football Playoff
By Jason McIntyre
Hey, let’s compare the resumes of Alabama and Ohio State, because both can still make the college football playoff! But only one will. If Ohio State takes down undefeated Wisconsin, the Buckeyes will have the Tide beat in every category that matters.
Conference Championship: Ohio State, by beating undefeated Wisconsin, would win the Big 10. Alabama has no shot.
Quality wins: Alabama has one win over a team that will be in the Top 25 on Tuesday. That’s LSU. Ohio State has two wins over teams that will be in the Top 25 on Tuesday. That’s Penn State (which will be higher than LSU) and Michigan State. It’s unclear how far the committee will drop Mississippi State (lost to unranked Ole Miss) or raise Iowa (beat Nebraska).
Ohio State will add a quality win if it beats undefeated Wisconsin in the Big 10 title game.
Strength of Schedule: Ohio State (56) was slightly ahead of Alabama (61) heading into Saturday. Alabama will surge ahead with the loss to Auburn. But Ohio State, with a win over unbeaten Wisconsin, would forge back ahead.
FPI: A made-up stat by ESPN had Alabama narrowly ahead of Ohio State going into Saturday’s game, 28.9 to 26.1. That is likely to change after Alabama was dominated by Auburn in every statistical category. And if Ohio State beats Wisconsin … you get the picture.
Alabama’s sitting in the clubhouse with an 11-1 season and no way to help itself. The only way it gets in: TCU beats Oklahoma, or Miami topples Clemson. At that point, Alabama’s resume could compare favorably with TCU or Miami, and it would certainly have “brand name cachet” (which matters!) over the Horned Frogs.