How far does Ohio State fall? The five biggest questions for the College Football Playoff

The penultimate College Football Playoff rankings will show how race for the 12-team field has solidified heading into conference championship weekend.

Eight spots are spoken for regardless of what happens Friday and Saturday. A ninth will be taken by the Group of Five, with Boise State favored to grab that spot by beating UNLV in the Mountain West title game.

The one game that could shake things up is in the ACC. Teams looking for a backdoor path into the playoff, such as Alabama, will be rooting for SMU to beat Clemson and ensure the ACC gets only one team in the field.

Two other teams to watch are Ohio State and Miami. Both will tumble down the rankings after losing on Saturday, though the Buckeyes are still set for an at-large playoff bid. The same can’t be said of the Hurricanes.

Where those teams fall on Tuesday night is one of several key questions set to define the latest playoff rankings:

Where will Ohio State land?

The Buckeyes came in behind SMU and Tennessee in the US LBM Coaches Poll, but the playoff selection committee will likely take a kinder view of the Buckeyes. That’s because of the wins against Penn State and Indiana, a one-two combo the committee has looked at very favorably throughout this year’s ranking process. Thanks to those wins, Ohio State may even drop just four spots on Tuesday night and come in ahead of both the Mustangs and Volunteers.

Ohio State running back TreVeyon Henderson is tackled by Northwestern defensive back Braden Turner (9) during their game at Wrigley Field.

How far will Miami drop?

The Hurricanes’ fall will be much more severe. Ranked No. 6 before Saturday’s loss to Syracuse, Miami is expected to drop out of the top 12 and come in behind the three-loss SEC teams in Alabama, Mississippi and South Carolina. Two losses in the last three games and no wins against ranked…

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Author : USA TODAY Sports

Publish date : 2024-12-03 04:55:00

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