E-mail Rich Cirminiello 
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What a fine mess you’ve just created, Ohio State. 

The Big Ten looked so neat and tidy not long ago. Michigan State was the flag bearer, and as the highest ranked conference team, the one most likely to carry that flag into the College Football Playoff. Simple, right? Not any longer.

The Buckeyes have displaced the Spartans in resounding fashion as the team to beat, with an offensive explosion that just doesn’t happen in East Lansing. 

J.T. Barrett was brilliant beyond anyone’s wildest expectations. For that matter, so, too, were Urban Meyer and offensive coordinator Tom Herman, who called a near-flawless game in the most difficult of circumstances. But now what, as it pertains to the million-dollar question that you’re going to hear about million times in just the next week alone—can the Buckeyes make the ascent to No. 4? 

Ohio State sure looked like one of the top four teams in America tonight, delivering one of the most impressive all-around performances by a program all season. But that singular loss was a nasty one, 35-21 in Columbus to a Virginia Tech team that’s 4-5 and nose-diving at an accelerated rate. Is it too much to overcome? So much will depend on what happens over the next month in places like Fort Worth and Eugene and Tallahassee, among others. 

The Buckeyes are now wearing the yellow jersey in the Big Ten. That is some incredible turnaround for the program, but a sure-fire source of concern for the executives at league headquarters in Illinois. 

E-mail Phil Harrison

Ohio State is now in the conversation.

Left for dead after the loss at home to Virginia Tech earlier in the year, it appeared as though it would be a wait-until-next-year kind of deal in Columbus. After all, the team was dealing with the loss of Heisman contender Braxton Miller at quarterback, and the defense was being rebuilt from the ground up.

Slowly but surely, the Buckeyes started to get their act together, won convincingly against inferior opponents, waiting to pounce when opportunity knocked. That opportunity came in the way of a road game at Michigan State tonight.

Fact is, nobody gave this young team a chance, but the improvement from that night when redshirt freshman J.T. Barrett appeared to be out of his league has been remarkable. There was a scare on the road against Penn State, but the rest of what we have seen is a team that can play with anybody.

Tonight a younger OSU team beat back a very physical and more experienced Spartan team in their place. The running game was good when it needed to be, there were a ton of big plays through the air, and when it all broke down, J.T. Barrett took things on his shoulder.

There is clearly still some work to do, and some impressing that must continue, but after the performance tonight, Urban Meyer’s squad is sitting in position to catch the pace car for a spot in the College Football Playoff.

Braxton Miller who?