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Ohio State edges Michigan State 17-16 to keep College Football Playoff hopes alive
Ohio State took care of business.
It wasn’t easy; it never is in East Lansing. The second-ranked Buckeyes got Michigan State’s best effort on senior day at blustery Spartan Stadium, but OSU managed to hold off Michigan State in a tight one, 17-16.
After an LJ Scott touchdown run, Michigan State had the chance to tie the game 17-17 with an extra point with 4:41 to go. Instead, Spartans coach Mark Dantonio opted to go for the lead. It didn’t work out. The Spartans worked their way down the field on Scott’s back, but the Spartans decided to throw on the two-point try. Tyler O’Connor forced one into traffic and was intercepted, allowing the Buckeyes to maintain a lead by the slimmest of margins.
When they regained possession, the Buckeyes managed to eat away some clock with the run game, but eventually kicked it back to the Spartans with 2:04 remaining. Starting at its own 20, the Michigan State offense hoped to give kicker Michael Geiger, who ruined Ohio State’s shot at an undefeated season in 2015, another shot to break the Buckeyes’ hearts.
That chance would never come.
O’Connor was sacked for a big loss on the drive’s first play. Without any timeouts, the MSU offense had to quickly regroup. When it did, O’Connor lobbed one into tight coverage yet again on the next play and was intercepted by Gareon Conley to seal the win for the Buckeyes and keep their College Football Playoff dreams alive.
After putting up 62 points in back-to-back wins, it looked like the Ohio State offense was back to its explosive ways. That wasn’t the case on Saturday. The Buckeyes struggled all day, putting up just 310 yards of offense — 224 of which came on the ground. Though he rushed for 105 yards, Buckeyes quarterback J.T. Barrett managed just 86 yards passing on 10-of-22 throwing. Michigan State’s wasn’t any better. With 160 yards rushing and 76 yards receiving, Scott was MSU’s lone bright spot offensively. O’Connor completed 6-of-16 passes for just 105 yards and two interceptions.
Scott took a screen pass 64 yards for a score on just the second play from scrimmage to give the Spartans an early lead. Ohio State battled back, and the game was tied at 10 apiece going into halftime.
Ohio State finally took its first lead of the game, 17-10, late in the third when Mike Weber barreled in from four yards out. A 52-yard burst from Weber, who had 111 yards on the afternoon, set up the score.
From then on out, it was mostly defense. The teams traded four punts after Weber’s score, but Scott was not going to let his team go out quietly. MSU handed Scott the ball eight straight times until he reached the end zone from a yard out with 4:41 to play.
That set up Dantonio’s fateful two-point decision. Instead of looking to force overtime, Dantonio, with his team sitting at 3-7, played to win, and it backfired. And that choice could play a huge role in the College Football Playoff picture.
Despite its loss to Penn State earlier in the year, Ohio State entered the week at No. 2, largely because of the losses by Michigan, Clemson and Washington last week. The Buckeyes will host rival Michigan next Saturday with another chance to boost their CFP resume. It’s a weird spot for OSU because a win against the Wolverines would put the Nittany Lions into the Big Ten title game (provided PSU takes care of business against Rutgers and MSU).
The question pondered all week was how Ohio State’s standing in the Big Ten would ultimately impact its standing in the Playoff rankings. Those debates will continue for another week.
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Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
