COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Buckeyes went from “outside” to “outside-looking-in” in the latest College Football Playoff rankings, moving up from No. 14 to No. 8 by virtue of a high-profile win on the road against the previously 8th-ranked Michigan State Spartans.
Ohio State (8-1, 5-0) must continue to keep on track when it travels to frigid Minneapolis to face the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Saturday (Noon/ABC) when the game time temperature is forecast to be in the low to mid-20s.
Head coach Urban Meyer is reluctant to comment on the rankings, but knows he will be asked, so he has prepared an answer and it suggests he thinks his team deserves to be in the conversation because the Buckeyes share an important trait with championship-caliber teams.
“They have a common characteristic and they’re grinders. And they get better each week. Those are championship level teams,” he said. “Once again, this could all be gone if we don’t go out and continue to do what we do that’s grind on a Tuesday, Wednesday and a Thursday…But I do know a championship level team. A team continues to grow like they are, like this, there’s no question this is one of them.”
Oregon jumped over undefeated Florida State and into the second spot, right behind No. 1 Mississippi State, and TCU is No. 4.
Alabama is No. 5, followed by Arizona State, Baylor and OSU.
The annual rivalry between Michigan and Ohio State will kick off at noon, its traditional time, on Nov. 29 at Ohio Stadium.
The start time was announced by the Big Ten on Tuesday night. No TV carrier has been determined yet.
This edition of “The Game” will be the 111th in the storied series that began in 1897 and has been played every year since 1918 — 96 consecutive years. Michigan holds a 58-44-6 edge. Ohio State has won 10 of the last 12 meetings, including the last two: 42-41 last year in Ann Arbor and 26-21 to cap an undefeated, 12-0, campaign in 2012.