Ohio State to hold rare underdog role in CFP semifinal against Georgia

Ohio State will hold a rare distinction ahead of its College Football Playoff semifinal against top-seeded Georgia.

It is the underdog.

After being favored in 25 consecutive games, a streak stretching back to the national championship game against Alabama at the end of a pandemic-shortened season two years ago, the Buckeyes are touchdown underdogs for the upcoming playoff matchup.

There is little surprise that the Bulldogs are favorites as the defending national champions who have remained unbeaten this season and sat atop the rankings for the last month.

The site of the game also happens to be in Georgia’s backyard, staged at the Peach Bowl in Atlanta on New Year’s Eve.

The Bulldogs have played twice at Mercedes-Benz Stadium this fall, first in their season opener against Oregon and later in the SEC championship game against LSU. They won both by a combined 99-33 margin.

Ohio State’s underdog status could prove a little extra motivation, add to a chip on its shoulder in the buildup to kickoff, but coach Ryan Day didn’t dwell on it in the immediate aftermath of Sunday’s playoff announcement.

Georgia looms large enough.

“We’ll see as the preparation goes,” Day said, “but these guys are going to have our guys attention in a big way. They know how they have to play in order to win this game. How fun is this going to be to go play down there?”

The Buckeyes didn’t triumph as an underdog against Alabama in the title game two seasons ago. They suffered a 52-24 defeat. But as a 7.5-point underdog to Clemson in the previous week's semifinal, Ohio State handled the Tigers in a 49-28 win.

OSU football practice schedule

The Buckeyes continued to hold practices last week, even as they were idle after missing the Big Ten championship game and uncertainty hovered over their postseason fate.

Those began last Wednesday and continued on Thursday.

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Day saw the practices as an opportunity to prepare for the possibility of landing in the playoff. They went into the conference championship weekend only one spot outside the four-team field before ultimately falling at No. 4.

It was especially a chance for them to keep an edge of competitiveness, he said.

“That’s important,” Day added. “Once you get into a whole week of doing nothing, you can get into that offseason mode, a little lazy, a little sloppy. We didn’t do that. We got back on the field. We got back to work with no guarantee of anything. … We said if we make this thing, we know we have this in the back pocket.”

The Buckeyes returned to practice this week.

Ohio State's magic playoff number?

Is there a scoring threshold in order to prevail in the College Football Playoff? In the mind of Day, it’s 40 points.

“In these big games, whether it’s in the CFP or a game like that, the team that wins is north of 40 points,” Day said. “That’s kind of the goal.”

Day’s expectation isn’t far off.

Since the postseason format went into effect in 2014, winning teams in the semifinals and finals have averaged 39 points per game.

“If we’re not getting that in scoring at that rate,” Day said, “then we’re putting ourselves at risk of our offense relying on the defense. That’s OK too, to rely on your defense, but the offensive mindset has to be you have to be in that 40 or 50 range to win these games.”

The Buckeyes are coming off their lowest scoring game, a 45-23 loss to Michigan in which they were kept out of the end zone in the second half. It was only the second time in Day’s tenure they did not score a touchdown after halftime.

College Football Playoff memory

The series history between Ohio State and Georgia is short.

The schools’ only meetings occurred three decades ago in the 1993 Citrus Bowl.

But Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart has faced the Buckeyes in the playoff, an experience that dates back to his time as the defensive coordinator at Alabama.

In the playoff’s first edition in 2014, Ohio State toppled the top-seeded Crimson Tide 42-35 along the way toward winning a national title.

“It was a long day,” Smart said, “and it was physical.”

Smart pointed to Ezekiel Elliott, the Buckeyes' running back who sprang for 230 yards and two touchdowns.

“He shredded what was a pretty talented Alabama defense,” Smart said.

Joey Kaufman covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch. Contact him at jkaufman@dispatch.com or on Twitter @joeyrkaufman.

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: OSU football has rare underdog role in CFP semifinal vs. Georgia