At the time of writing this post, Ohio State is still playing Wisconsin. The game is not over, but it was scoreless at the end of the 1st quarter. That’s all anyone needs to see. It was 10-7 Ohio State early in the 3rd quarter after Ohio State shanked a punt. This is not the kind performance we expect from a supposed elite team. Wisconsin is coming off a loss to a very bad Illinois team, and should be given no credit for playing Ohio State well.
For that Ohio State should drop 2-4 spots in the polls. Following last week’s 7-3 lead at Northwestern after 1 quarter, I’m not sure Ohio State is even a top 10 team. Two straight weeks of shaky 1st quarters bring all kinds of questions into the playoff legitimacy of the Buckeyes.
Another playoff contending team that should be dropped in the polls is Oklahoma. Serious consideration should be made to land the Sooners somewhere between 10-15 next week even if they do win today over Kansas State. 1st quarter and 1st half performances are critical in the evaluation of football teams, and Oklahoma was DOWN 24-23 to Kansas State at the half. They are trailing at this moment 34-23 to the Wildcats!! Oklahoma should be eliminated from playoff consideration all together, even if they come back to win. This is completely unacceptable.
Oklahoma has given up more points in a half of football than Clemson has given has given in any single entire game. Jalen Hurts has thrown 3 1st half in-completions and that cannot ignored either. I didn’t watch the in-completions, but I am sure Hurts made a mistake. His performance on those 3 in-completions is the blue-print for beating an Oklahoma offense. Don’t get me started on the Sooner defense either.
Justin Fields has 8 in-completions so far in Ohio State’s game as well. He may have more than 10 by the time the game ends!
I for one am pleased to see the poll ranking criteria change to the evaluation of 1st quarters and 1st halves. There is no better way to compare teams than how they open games, and it saves so much time. Should either of these games get into the 4th quarter in doubt, it should bring into question whether of these teams should be ranked in the top 25. After all they were entered the game as double digit favorites, and frankly it’s not worth watching that long.
- Editor Note
Ohio State ended up winning 38-7 which should not make up for their bad start, and Oklahoma lost 48-41 which was a crippling loss to their playoff hopes.
Make sure you follow the All Sports Discussion Twitter account at @AllSportsDACC and please like our Facebook Page
Leave a Reply