College Football Playoff 2020: Simulating a 16-team bracket

16-team College Football Playoff first round: 3 Ohio State vs. 14 Northwestern

This is another game that fans have already gotten the chance to see this year as the Big Ten Championship Game featured Northwestern and Ohio State going toe-to-toe. What’s interesting about that first matchup, though, is that many people have used it as part of the reason why the Buckeyes shouldn’t have made it into the four-team College Football Playoff field, even though they won.

Of course, Ryan Day’s team was anything but impressive in that game. Justin Fields played arguably the worst game of his college career for the Buckeyes and, if not for Trey Sermon running wild in the game of his life, the Wildcats would’ve been able to get the win. But therein lies the inherent problem for Northwestern in this matchup.

During that Big Ten Championship Game, Northwestern had every opportunity imaginable to come up with a win. They consistently turned Fields over and limited the passing attack which then gave them chances to score. Unfortunately, the offensively challenged group was unable to convert on those chances, which is why OSU notched the victory.

Not only is it hard to imagine that the Buckeyes would make as many mistakes as they did in the conference championship game but it’s hard to imagine the Wildcats can pull out a win if they aren’t given the same favorable opportunities.

Ohio State wins, 34-10