College Football Playoff rankings: Should Ohio State still be in after Michigan loss?

This is why rivalry week is the best. Just when you thought you knew everything about this wacky, weird and wonderful sport, college football, uh, finds a way... We have already seen Tulane lose a game it could not afford to Memphis. We saw Georgia need eight overtime periods to beat Georgia Tech. South Carolina stunned Clemson in Death Valley. Also, Michigan beat Ohio State yet again?!

While the Green Wave are probably out and the Bulldogs are probably in, Clemson needs a Syracuse win over Miami in the worst way possible. South Carolina still has an outside shot at making the playoff, but may need a little more chaos. As far as Ohio State is concerned, the Buckeyes are safe ... for the time being. However, there are a few machinations in which they do not make the playoff now.

Right this instant, I would drop the Buckeyes from the No. 2-ranked team in the country down to the No. 8-ranked team in the nation. That would put them behind two-loss teams like Georgia and Tennessee, but ahead of teams like Indiana and SMU. Assuming "chalk" the rest of the way, we would be looking at No. 9-seeded Ohio State going to No. 8-seeded Tennessee for a first-round matchup.

What else would need to happen for Ohio State to not make the playoff? Are they surely in now?

Ohio State Buckeyes' playoff chances after losing to Michigan Wolverines

The good news is even if the Buckeyes dropped a few spots in the next College Football Playoff rankings, they are still probably going to be ahead of the projected Group of Five winner and the projected Big 12 winner. Only one of those teams would leapfrog over them into a top-four seed, so keep that in mind. It is all about being ranked inside of the top 11 heading into Selection Sunday.

Right now, I think having the head-to-head victories over Penn State and Indiana are the two biggest reasons why Ohio State is incredibly likely to make the playoff. Although Indiana and Penn State would be out with bad losses to Purdue and Maryland respectively, those will still be ranked wins of quality for the Buckeyes. The only problem is Michigan just improved to 7-5, so this is a bad loss now.

Of the top of my head, the only ways that Ohio State may not make the playoff now are if three-loss teams like Clemson and Texas A&M end up winning the ACC and SEC, respectively. Either of those teams winning a Power Four conference at this point should be viewed as bid stealing. Conference runners up in that situation would be SMU and Georgia, but maybe just Georgia would make it in then?

The other big thing to watch is if teams ranked behind them like Indiana and SMU are ranked higher than them on Tuesday night. That would complicate things for the Buckeyes because every team ranked ahead of them would be one more team likely to take their spot in the playoff. Ultimately, it will come down to how this week shakes out and how the Selection Committee views South Carolina.

I would be cautiously optimistic about the Buckeyes' chances of making the playoff moving forward.