CFP Chair Hunter Yurachek explains decision to rank Buckeyes No. 2 after Big Ten title loss

COLUMBUS — Ohio State was always going to keep its first-round bye in the College Football Playoff, no matter what happened between it and Indiana in the Big Ten title game. And it was even more clear that the Buckeyes would have a free pass into the quarterfinal after they lost by just three points to the Hoosiers on Saturday night.

Now, Indiana took the spot Ohio State previously occupied at No. 1. And despite the loss — and a SEC championship win by No. 3 Georgia over No. 9 Alabama — the Buckeyes remained at No. 2 ahead of the Georgia Bulldogs, sending Ohio State to the Cotton Bowl while Georgia is heading to the Sugar Bowl.

College Football Playoff committee chairman Hunter Yurachek weighed in on that decision to keep the Buckeyes in the top two after the rankings and full CFP bracket were released Sunday afternoon.

“Yeah, you had a 1 versus 2 match-up in the Big Ten, Indiana and Ohio State, a hotly contested game,” the CFP chair Yurachek said. “Indiana won by 3 but Ohio State missed a late field goal that could have potentially tied that game and sent it into overtime. They had another failed 4th down conversion there in the second half. I thought that game was really, really close.”

Yurachek, of course, is referencing the two long second-half drives from Ohio State, one that went 70 yards on 12 plays and stalled inside the Indiana 10-yard line and another that went 81 yards across 15 plays and resulted in a missed chip-shot field goal by kicker Jayden Fielding from 27 yards out.

If either of those possessions result in Ohio State points, the Buckeyes may be heading to the Rose Bowl as an undefeated top overall seed in the CFP instead of Indiana. But those two possessions both equaled no points for the Buckeyes, giving Indiana the 13-10 win and the Big Ten Championship.

And yes, Georgia blew Alabama out in Atlanta to capture the SEC crown. But it wasn’t enough for the Bulldogs to leap the Buckeyes in the eyes of the committee.

“Then when you look at comparatively Georgia to Ohio State, their schedule strengths are relatively similar as are their record strengths,” Yurachek said, “but statistically, especially on the offensive and defensive side of the ball, Ohio State looks a little bit better on the statistical side.

“So that’s why the committee chose to give the nod to Ohio State over Georgia in that 2-3 setting.”

For those reasons, Ohio State remained No. 2 in the CFP standings, just behind Indiana but still ahead of fellow one-loss teams Georgia and Texas Tech, the No. 4 seed. Sure, those teams won conference titles, but the Buckeyes are still better, according to the Yurachek-led committee.

It was never a question of whether the Buckeyes were going to lose their first-round bye into the quarterfinal, anyway. It just came down to their seed in the top four.