No. 2 Ohio State's 24-21 loss to Penn State on Saturday night does not eliminate the Buckeyes from College Football Playoff contention.
In fact, they are still projected in the playoff.
Ohio State is projected as the No. 4 seed, still as the Big Ten champion, falling one spot but remaining in the top four.
| College Football Playoff projections | |||
| Bowl | Date | Location | Matchup |
| Peach Bowl | Dec. 31 | Atlanta, Ga. | (1) Alabama vs. (4) Ohio State |
| Fiesta Bowl | Dec. 31 | Glendale, Ariz. | (2) Clemson vs. (3) Washington |
Every other team that has a shot at beating Ohio State will have to do so either in Columbus (Nebraska and Michigan both come to town) or Indianapolis in the Big Ten title game.
Ohio State would win a three-way tie with Michigan and Penn State, should that occur, as the Nittany Lions' loss to Pitt would drop them from the tiebreaker and the Buckeyes would have a win over the Wolverines head-to-head in that scenario. The odd thing about that for Buckeye fans is that means rooting for Michigan to win out until that last game.
Ohio State would lose a two-way tiebreaker with just Penn State and not get a chance to win the Big Ten, so the Buckeyes need the Wolverines not to stumble before they play each other.
Stanford lost to Colorado by a baseball-sounding score of 10-5 and has been dropped from the Rose Bowl projection. That now goes to Utah, the projected winner of the South Division.
Any hope Houston had of climbing back to a New Year's Six game ended with a blowout loss at SMU. The race for that Group of Five spot could get interesting. Undefeated Boise State is now in the driver's seat and would surely get the spot if the Broncos win out. If they lose to San Diego State in the Mountain West title game, the Aztecs at 12-1 would be a strong contender, along with a potentially 12-1 Navy, if the Midshipmen win the AAC. Western Michigan, which is also undefeated, could be a contender as well, but a MAC schedule and lack of a significant nonconference win could keep the Broncos out.
| New Year's Six bowl projections | |||
| Bowl | Date | Location | Matchup |
| Sugar Bowl | Jan. 2 | New Orleans, La. | Oklahoma (Big 12) vs. Texas A&M (SEC) |
| Rose Bowl | Jan. 2 | Pasadena, Calif. | Michigan (Big Ten) vs. Utah (Pac-12) |
| Cotton Bowl | Jan. 2 | Arlington, Tex. | San Diego State (At-large) vs. Tennessee (At-large) |
| Orange Bowl | Dec. 30 | Miami, Fla. | Louisville (ACC) vs. Wisconsin |
The number of teams projected to be bowl eligible is still low. Only 75 teams are projected for the 80 spots needed to fill the bowls. Hawaii is one of the fill-in teams because the Rainbow Warriors are projected to be 6-7 in a regular 13-game schedule. That takes priority over 5-7 teams. The other four spots are currently filled by Cal, Northern Illinois, South Carolina and UCF, which are all expected to finish 5-7.
Check out the rest of Jerry Palm's complete set of bowl projections here.
Correction: The original headline on this story stated that Ohio State controls its own destiny, which is not the case. The Buckeyes are projected to get in based on how the rest of the season should play out.
