Goodbye Buckeyes?

WAIT, OHIO STATE STILL HAS BACKDOOR TO CHAMPIONSHIP

After No. 1 Ohio State suffered an embarrassing home loss to unranked Illinois, columnists everywhere eliminated the Buckeyes from the National Championship picture.

Rich Cirminiello of Fox Sports said LSU, Oregon, Kansas and Oklahoma were the only championship contenders. Mark Schlabach of ESPN said in his “On the Mark” column “at least we won’t have to hear about a 50-day layoff before the Jan. 7 BCS National Championship Game.” Even Ivan Maisel wrote Ohio State off.

Brad Edwards’ column, a special to ESPN.com, made the most sense. Although he claimed the national championship race is down to five teams, Edwards also said last Saturday assured that there won’t be a berth in the BCS clinched on Nov. 17.

Why all the hate toward Ohio State?

I have two theories. First, Ohio State usually is not a glamour team. They win games with smash mouth defense and with a “three yards and a cloud of dust” mentality. Fans get bored watching them grind out wins.

Second, the Buckeyes had a glamour team last season. But they teased, in hindsight. Ranked No. 1 all season, the Buckeyes were guaranteed another championship only to get blown out by Florida in the BCS title game. You just can’t forgive them after a 41-14 thrashing.

However, an honest assessment of the BCS picture shows the Buckeyes aren’t finished, not yet. And if they win on Saturday against rival Michigan, which is not a gimme, Ohio State would finish the season 11-1 before any other top team completes their season.

The teams ranked in front of the Buckeyes, LSU, Oregon, Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and West Virginia, have 11 regular season games remaining split among them. That’s a lot of season left, discounting conference championship games.

With Oregon falling apart in the desert, the number of one loss team’s just dropped. It’s a definite long shot for Ohio State to play in New Orleans for the title, but the back door is still open.

If I’ve learned anything watching college football this year, it’s that rankings mean nothing, and you must expect the unexpected.