Ohio State has won four consecutive Big Ten conference titles. But OSU did not look good vs. Minnesota and lost at home to Oregon, a team they were previously 9-0 against. Oregon was also out two key players during the game.

Now it is a long season and OSU has yet to lose a conference season but the Oregon loss has to be alarming. Even worse than losing at home to a Pac 12 team (you know how I feel about the Pac 12 and West Coast teams), it was a noon ET kickoff and for Oregon a 9am PT kickoff. Ohio State had every advantage possible and they still lost the game. Is it possible that some other team can win the Big Ten title this year? Iowa has two impressive convincing victories, a win over an Indiana team that looked good in 2020 and a win at Iowa State. Penn State won Week 1 at Wisconsin and blew out Ball State, a game that on paper doesn't seem so impressive but Ball State won the Mid American title last year. Unfortunately for PSU they have to go to Columbus and the game is in late October. Ryan Day will have plenty of time to fix the issues at OSU before Penn State comes to town. Ohio State already has Minnesota out of the way and their only other Western Division games are Purdue and a Nebraska team that lost to an Illinois team that lost to Texas San Antonio. Ohio State has to go to Indiana but you have to wonder if Indiana is as good after the Iowa beatdown. It's probably early to say but I would still think the East Division comes down to PSU/OSU on Oct. 30.

But is it panic mode in Columbus or are all things fine? It's not the first time Ohio State lost a September non conference game. Ohio State lost a home non conference game in 2014 and won a national championship. Of course last time I checked Virginia Tech wasn't in the Pac-12.

For Ohio State to make the Playoff, they have no room for error and likely need Oregon to lose at least once and likely twice. In terms of one loss teams, Clemson would likely be ahead of them as well as either Alabama or Georgia (assuming one wins the SEC and is undefeated and the other loses only the SEC Championship). If Oklahoma loses once, I'd put OSU ahead of them as Oregon is a better loss than anyone Oklahoma would lose to (then again it was at home and if Oklahoma loses a road game that could come into play). If the Big 10 wants a team in the Playoff, they're probably better off if Ohio State doesn't win the conference title now (unless there's a ton of losses by other contenders).

I see nothing about Ohio State that convinces me that they will run the table in the conference with the defensive play they're getting and Stroud afraid to run the football. Penn State can get them and I don't rule out Michigan State. If they would make the conference title game and happen to play Iowa the Hawkeye secondary could probably stand up enough to win.

As I said in another thread OSU can lose one legendary offensive player, thank them for their service, and plug in another legend. How an elite program can have players in the back end defensively that aren't ready boggles my mind. I'm an OSU fan but I'm all for a dip in the well.

Ohio State has a much better chance to make the playoffs than Clemson (for example of another one loss team). Clemson just doesn't have the remaining schedule to put up a decent resume. Ohio State at least gets Penn State, Michigan, and the west champion. They can lose one more but then they'll need a lot of help.