With so much speculation as to Ohio State's playoff chances and whether it can reach the College Football Playoff even if it doesn't win the Big Ten, Michigan State nearly made it all a moot point on Saturday afternoon.
Ohio State escaped East Lansing, Michigan, with a 17-16 win over Michigan State, but it came within a two-point conversion of what may have been its second loss of the season.
Trailing 17-10 in the fourth quarter, Michigan State put together an eight-play, 56-yard drive that took nearly five minutes off the clock. It finished with L.J. Scott scoring the touchdown with 4:41 left to play, but instead of kicking an extra point to tie the game, Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio decided to go for the two-point conversion .
It was an aggressive decision, and one that I thought was the right call, but it didn't work. Tyler O'Connor's pass was picked off in the end zone, and Ohio State held on to its lead.
Michigan State would get another chance, however, as Ohio State had to punt the ball back with two minutes left, but O'Connor threw another interception on the second play of the drive. After that Ohio State took a few knees, and walked off the field with its Big Ten title hopes -- and its playoff hopes -- still alive.
Here's what you need to know about this game, and what it means going forward.
1. There's good news and bad news for Ohio State following this result: We'll start with the bad news. There's no questioning Ohio State's resume to this point, as its sole loss is to No. 8 Penn State and it has wins over No. 7 Wisconsin and No. 9 Oklahoma. Still, this is the third time in five games that the Buckeyes haven't looked like a powerhouse.
They crushed Nebraska and Maryland, but they've also now struggled with an average Northwestern team and a bad Michigan State team. These are things that could affect Ohio State's standing when it comes to earning a playoff bid if it doesn't win the Big Ten.
The good news is Michigan State looked awful feisty today. If this Michigan State team shows up for Penn State next week, it's a team capable of beating Penn State, and if that were to happen, a win over Michigan would send Ohio State to the Big Ten Championship Game. And make no mistake about it, the only sure way for any Big Ten team to reach the CFP is by winning the Big Ten.
2. Ohio State still needs to find more touches for Mike Weber and Curtis Samuel: They're two of the most explosive players the Buckeyes have on offense, but the two of them combined for only 22 touches (receptions and carries) on Saturday. Those 22 touches resulted in 164 yards and two scores. That's an average of 7.5 yards per touch.
On the 45 offensive plays the Buckeyes ran without Weber or Samuel touching the ball, they picked up 146 total yards, averaging 3.2 yards per play. Can you see why Weber and Samuel need to be more involved?
J.T. Barrett is a very good quarterback, but he was struggling on Saturday, as he threw for only 86 yards. He did manage to rush for 105 yards, but needed 24 carries to get there. It just feels like Ohio State asks Barrett to do too much at times, and it nearly cost them today.
3. It's too bad Michigan State can't play like this against everybody: This loss drops the Spartans to 3-8 on the season with those three wins coming against Furman, Notre Dame and Rutgers. The eight losses include games against Indiana, Maryland and Illinois, just to name a few.
The Spartans also have losses to Michigan and Ohio State, of course, but those two losses have come by a combined 10 points. Michigan State's other six losses have come by an average of 12.2 points per game.
If the Spartans could have only managed to get as fired up for everybody as they have Michigan and Ohio State, they'd probably be going bowling this year.
