Ohio State Buckeyes' dream College Football Playoff path to make up for Michigan loss

So the Ohio State Buckeyes are 10-2 and not playing for a Big Ten title... Now what? Well, despite losing to Michigan for the fourth year in a row, it is going to be almost impossible for the Buckeyes to be left out of the College Football Playoff field. They are one of seven or eight teams I feel are pretty much a lock to get in at this point. They could be as high as the No. 6 seed, but as low as the No. 11.

The No. 5 seed this year will be one of the following teams: Notre Dame, Oregon or Texas. Georgia and Penn State will drop past that if they lose their conference championships. I don't know if it is really possible for Ohio State to be as high as No. 6, but I am not ruling that out either. For the sake of argument, let's say in a best-case scenario, Ohio State ends up with a top-eight seed in the playoff.

The reason for that is to get a home playoff game in the first round. Since I don't think the Selection Committee is going to give us repeat matchups right away based on seeding (Indiana at Ohio State, Tennessee at Georgia, namely), let's just give the Buckeyes the No. 7 seed for the sake of getting the benefit of the doubt from the Selection Committee, even though I do not think that they deserve it.

So from the No. 7 seed, here is what needs to happen for Ohio State to go on and win the playoff.

How Ohio State could win the College Football Playoff with lucky breaks

To make this as easy as possible, let's say that Clemson beats SMU to win the ACC. That would get the Tigers an AQ spot, probably the No. 12 seed. That would make Boise State be the No. 3 and either Arizona State or Iowa State would be the No. 4. I think Iowa State is the easier matchup, so they win the Big 12. Heck, let's say UNLV wins the Mountain West over Boise State to win the Group of Five.

In that situation, let's say that Penn State beat Oregon, Texas beat Georgia, Clemson beat SMU, Iowa State beat Arizona State and UNLV beat Boise State. All but Texas winning are upsets, but I am flipping the regular-season rematches in UNLV and Texas' favor in this exercise. So Texas is No. 1, Penn State is No. 2, Iowa State would be No. 3, Clemson would be No. 4 and UNLV would be No. 12.

At No. 5, let's put Oregon. Notre Dame would be No. 6. Ohio State would be No. 7 because they beat the Big Ten champion and No. 8 Tennessee did not. Indiana may climb up to No. 9. I would drop SMU to No. 10 and Georgia would be the last team in at No. 11. This is just to give Ohio State the easiest first-round matchup possible at No. 7 vs. the No. 10 Mustangs. The Buckeyes win easily to advance.

Here is what the most absurdly favorable playoff field would look like in Ohio State's dream scenario.

1. Texas Longhorns (12-1) (SEC champion)
2. Penn State Nittany Lions (12-1) (Big Ten champion)
3. Iowa State Cyclones (11-2) (Big 12 champion)
4. Clemson Tigers (10-3) (ACC champion)
5. Oregon Ducks (12-1) (Big Ten runner-up)
6. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (11-1) (National independent)
7. Ohio State Buckeyes (10-2) (Big Ten at-large)
8. Tennessee Volunteers (10-2) (SEC at-large)
9. Indiana Hoosiers (11-1) (Big Ten at-large)
10. SMU Mustangs (11-2) (ACC runner-up)
11. Georgia Bulldogs (10-3) (SEC runner-up)
12. UNLV Rebels (11-2) (Mountain West/Group of Five champion)

From there, the Buckeyes would face No. 2 Penn State in the Rose Bowl in the national quarterfinals, a team they beat in State College quite easily. Since Penn State never beats teams it is favored over, they will crumble vs. the Buckeyes. After that, the Buckeyes would face the winner of the Fiesta Bowl between No. 3 Iowa State and No. 6 Notre Dame vs. No. 11 Georgia. The highest seed wins so ISU...

You beat Iowa State, who beat Notre Dame, who beat Georgia in South Bend. So many lucky breaks for the Buckeyes. After getting past Iowa State in the Cotton Bowl, you would face the winner of the Orange Bowl in the national championship game in Atlanta. In this exercise, No. 5 Oregon beats No. 12 UNLV, No. 9 Indiana beats No. 8 Tennessee, No. 4 Clemson beats Oregon and No. 1 Texas beats IU.

Clemson would then somehow beat Texas in the Orange Bowl to meet Ohio State in Atlanta in a playoff matchup that feels exceptionally 2018. A three-loss Clemson team who could not even beat Louisville is the pawn Ohio State will topple over. That is the easiest semi-feasible pathway for the Buckeyes to avenge their heartbreaking loss to Michigan to go on and win the national title anyway.

For a slight recap visual, here is Ohio State's path from losing to Michigan to winning the whole thing.

• No. 7 Ohio State over No. 10 SMU (Columbus, OH)
• No. 7 Ohio State over No. 2 Penn State (Rose Bowl, Pasadena, CA)
• No. 7 Ohio State over No. 3 Iowa State (Cotton Bowl, Arlington, TX)
• No. 7 Ohio State over No. 4 Clemson (National Championship, Atlanta, GA)

If you can think of an easier way for the Buckeyes to somehow win a national title, just let me know.