Rounding up newest bowl projections for Ohio State
COLUMBUS — Ohio State ended up on the wrong side of what proved to be a pseudo-playoff game this past weekend in the Horseshoe. Michigan answered the bell in the top-three showdown, defeating the Buckeyes for the second year in a row and the first time in Columbus since 2000.
Now, the No. 2 Wolverines are practically a lock for the College Football Playoff. Meanwhile, Ohio State, which dropped to No. 5 in this week’s AP Poll, is doing some soul searching and hoping.
Because the Buckeyes are going to need some help to make the four-team field. No. 4 USC has to lose the Pac-12 Championship to No. 12 Utah for Ohio State to have a chance at the CFP. It’s worth noting that the Utes handed the Trojans their lone loss earlier this season, but USC quarterback Caleb Williams is playing his best football right now and is the Heisman Trophy favorite heading into championship weekend.
Ohio State will also have to be scoreboard watching for TCU-Kansas State in the Big 12 Championship. The No. 3 Horned Frogs are trying to keep their perfect season alive, while the No. 13 Wildcats are looking to play spoiler. A TCU loss would open up the conversation about whether a one-loss Buckeyes team or a one-loss Horned Frogs team deserves a spot in the CFP.
And then there’s No. 6 Alabama that’s always lurking in these discussions, despite its two losses.
If the CFP isn’t in the cards for Ohio State, however, where will the Buckeyes play? Well, it seems like the answer is unanimous — at least in the major national media bowl projections.
Lettermen Row rounds up a handful of those projections after Week 13.
ESPN: Rose Bowl vs. Washington
The Rose Bowl was a consolation prize for Ohio State last season. And it could be again this time around. That’s where the major national media bowl projections have the Buckeyes playing. They’re penciled in to face Washington, which is 10-2 but not playing in the Pac-12 title game because it lost the tiebreaker with Utah — the Huskies could have avoided the tiebreaker had they not lost to a 3-9 Arizona State team earlier this season.
But that tiebreaker could actually work out in Washington’s favor. If USC gets its revenge on Utah in the conference championship, the Trojans will head to the CFP, and Washington — not a four-loss Utes squad — will likely be the Pac-12 representative in the Rose Bowl.
Ohio State and Washington have met 12 times all-time, and the Buckeyes lead the series, 9-3. They last played in 2019, also in the Rose Bowl. Ohio State won, 28-23, to cap Urban Meyer’s final season as head coach. The Buckeyes went into the fourth quarter with a 25-point lead yet needed to recover an onside kick to seal the victory after the Huskies rattled off 20 unanswered points in the final frame.
The late Dwayne Haskins threw for three touchdowns in the win, while running back Myles Gaskin starred for Washington, rushing for two scores and tossing another.
Washington hasn’t beaten Ohio State since 1994.
