Ohio State and Penn State will face off on Saturday, and these two teams have to make an impression on the CFP committee about which one is better. Remember that the Buckeyes have been to the playoff before, and they did not even have to win their conference to get that far. As far as they are concerned, they must be living large because they can barely beat Penn State and ruin their whole season. I happen to think that Penn State is going to win, but it needs to be convincing.
Why does Penn State need to win big?
Penn State has to convince the committee that they deserve to be in the playoff.
The simple fact is that the Nittany Lions could be considered a second tier team if they have a hard game against a good team. The CFP committee has never checked anything they have done, and they would use a close win to say that Penn State would not be competitive in the playoff. That would be completely contrary to how they picked him State last year, but we cannot expect them to be consistent.
Ohio State can get in with a win
The committee will use a win from Ohio State to show that they belong back in the playoff. They could make the case that the loss last year to Clemson was an aberration, and that would give Ohio State another chance to get into the playoff. That would mean that Penn State has to completely destroy Ohio State and make them look as completely inept as they possibly can.
Anything less than that is not good enough. Also, we have to consider that James Franklin is something of a reveled. The college football establishment does not like that at all.
What will happen?
I think that James Franklin knows this, and I think that he is going to dial up as many plays as he can to get Saquon Barkley the ball.
I think that he will run it down Ohio State's throat, and I think he will go for the win that we all know that they need. We have to expect Penn State to be very aggressive because James Franklin is upset about last season. He is going to want to prove that they belong, and this is the game where they can do that. This could be the game that gives Barkley the Heisman, and that would be very impressive if he wrapped it up against a team that his own team needs to beat very badly.
We often forget that the Heisman should be a trophy for individual accomplishment, and Barkley would be the most accomplished player if he basically beat the Buckeyes all by himself.
Watch Penn State and Ohio State to find out who could go to the playoff from the Big Ten. We forgot Wisconsin, but that is because the committee will, too.
