Should Ohio State move to No. 1 in playoff rankings with Penn State win?

The Ohio State Buckeyes defeated the Penn State Nittany Lions on Saturday afternoon. Was this victory strong enough to make Ohio State the new No. 1 team?

In the signature game of the Week 13 slate, the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes held on to defeat the No. 8 Penn State Nittany Lions to stay undefeated at 11-0 (8-0). Ohio State got off to a fast start, leading 14-0 at halftime. However, Penn State would bring it within a score in the second half. Ohio State would prevail by taming the Nittany Lions, 28-17.

This win sends Ohio State to the Big Ten Championship Game as the Big Ten East division winner, where they will face the winner of the Big Ten West in Indianapolis in two weeks, which will be the winner of the Wisconsin Badgers vs. the Minnesota Golden Gophers game next week in Minneapolis. Penn State has now officially been eliminated from the College Football Playoff.

This is the third team that the Buckeyes have defeated that had a top-25 ranking at the time of their meeting. Is this win big enough to propel the Buckeyes past the LSU Tigers and into the No. 1 spot in the next College Football Playoff Rankings?

No, not yet, but Ohio State can certainly still earn the top spot heading into their national semifinal matchup. What hurts the Buckeyes’ chances of leapfrogging the Tigers this week is two-fold: Strength of schedule and number of quality wins.

Sports Illustrated‘s Ross Dellenger pointed out that while the Buckeyes have a better margin of victory than the Tigers, LSU has considerably better strength of schedule and more quality wins than the Buckeyes at this time.

But what aids the Buckeyes’ chances to potentially leapfrog LSU in a few weeks are that Ohio State has two more resume builders left on its schedule: at the Michigan Wolverines and a neutral-site affair between the Wisconsin vs. Minnesota winner in the Big Ten Championship. These would be two certain top-tier wins to help bridge the gap with LSU.

As for the Bayou Bengals, they have two regular-season games left: at home vs. the awful Arkansas Razorbacks and at home vs. the just okay Texas A&M Aggies. With a win over either team, LSU would clinch the SEC West and would play the Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC Championship in Atlanta. That’s the only resume builder left for LSU to win.

At the end of the day, we can’t reasonably expect an Ohio State team that didn’t cover the spread at home vs. Penn State to usurp LSU for the top spot in the upcoming College Football Playoff Rankings. But give it a few weeks and Ohio State could get the top spot and would presumably host the No. 4 seed in the national semifinals at the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona.

For more NCAA football news, analysis, opinion and unique coverage by FanSided, including Heisman Trophy and College Football Playoff rankings, be sure to bookmark these pages.