COLUMBUS – The Buckeyes moved up to No. 6 in The Associated Press college football poll after trouncing rival Michigan.
The 62-39 win Saturday also earned Ohio State (11-1, 8-1 Big Ten East) a return trip to the Big Ten Championship Game Dec. 1 in Indianapolis (8:00 p.m./FOX).
As soon as Buckeye fans got over their surprise at their team‘s domination of a team that was favored to beat them by four points, they started booking trips to the title game, only three hours away.
“As soon as we won that game, we started having people going online and trying to book their packages to go to the game so we really have seen a lot of interest in this. Everybody’s really excited,” AAA Ohio senior public affairs manager Kimberly Schwind said.
The auto club AAA is offering two travel package options – one with motorcoach transportation and one without. Packages for four people — which include accommodations, game tickets and admission to other events – are $409 per person for a self-driving trip for four and $819 for a single. The motorcoach tour is priced at $489 and $899 and Schwind says she expects them to be sold out by the end of the day on Tuesday
The Buckeyes jumped four spots and the Wolverines fell four to No. 8 on Sunday, but overall the rankings were relatively stable after the last weekend of the regular season. Going into next week, when each FBS conference will play a championship game, Alabama, Clemson and Notre Dame are the top three for the sixth straight poll. Georgia moved up a spot to No. 4 and Oklahoma is fifth.
Not surprisingly, Ohio State sophomore quarterback Dwayne Haskins was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week for a record sixth time this season, topping the mark previously set in 2006 by Buckeye quarterback Troy Smith.
Haskins threw for 396 yards and a school record-tying six touchdown passes, in the process setting Big Ten season records for passing yards and touchdowns. He broke Drew Brees’ TD record of 39, set in 1998, and Curtis Painter’s yards mark of 3,985, set in 2006. He now has 4,081 yards and 42 TDs on the year.