Oller: Say a sad so long to last remnant of the one-loss Ohio State catastrophe
The end of the world will happen at approximately 11 p.m. Saturday in South Bend, Indiana.
At least for one fanbase.
Depending on whether your allegiance is to Ohio State or Notre Dame, either the earth crumbles into dust or you momentarily escape cataclysm until the next time you face your world blowing apart.
Such is the beauty of college football: Just one regular-season loss means the 49-year-old factory worker changes out of his No. 18 Marvin Harrison Jr. jersey into sackcloth and ashes. The 35-year-old mom with the shamrock painted on her cheek drops her child at soccer practice with an inspiring message of, “All is lost. We are ruined.”
You don’t get that in the NFL, where dropping a game in September gets a shrug and accompanying “there’s always next week.” But there is no next week for fans of Ohio State and Notre Dame if their beloved Buckeyes and Fighting Irish can’t come away with a win. At that point, there becomes the question of whether the sun will come up the next day.
Alas, the potential for such a darkening mood is about to end, which is a shame. When the College Football Playoff expands from four to 12 teams in 2024, a part of what makes the college game special will be lost. Seldom will there be the same measure of drama that accompanies two undefeated teams playing for a perfection that really matters. The undefeated winner boosts its playoff chances. The loser wonders if one loss is a death sentence in a regular season that serves as a weekly playoff before the actual playoff.
If the expanded playoff format had existed in 2002, Holy Buckeye would not have held the same do-or-die significance, because OSU would have made the playoff with a loss. The OSU coaching staff’s curious decision to only run Ezekiel Elliott 11 times in the devastating loss to Michigan State in 2015 would not still be bothering Buckeye Nation, because Zeke and his teammates would have made the playoff. And the crushing season-ending loss to Michigan that cost Ohio State a national title in 1969 would have hurt much less.
My wife, the non-sports aficionado, asked a fair question: “Isn’t it good to still have hope after losing a game?”
Sigh. In most sports, yes. But college football thankfully is not most sports.
Certainly, the coming 12-team playoff is a positive for programs that always seem to be on the outside looking in. Oklahoma State fans will love it. Ditto non-Power Five schools that previously barely had any chance of sneaking teams into the playoff under the current format.
But for Ohio State and Notre Dame? There is something to be said for every week being a must-win.
Moving forward, in most seasons the Buckeyes will be able to lose a game, maybe two, and reach the playoff. The Fighting Irish might have a tougher time, but likely still can lose one game and get in.
This is not to suggest Ohio State vs. Notre Dame is just another game. The Buckeyes-Fighting Irish will always feel more electric than if the opponent were Western Kentucky, Tennessee State or even Minnesota or Virginia.
“You don’t feel small games differently,” former Ohio State tight end Ben Hartsock texted. “It’s just that bigger games feel bigger. I’ll never forget waking up the morning of 2002 OSU-Michigan and looking out the window of the hotel seeing a million fans walking around St. John Arena before 8 a.m. You can’t help but feel that.”
Under a 12-team playoff, that sense of enormity won’t change as much for players, because players don’t obsess over the playoff picture as much as fans.
“Big games come with big expectations,” former OSU safety Donnie Nickey texted.
But that is especially true for Buckeye fans now, because one expectation is that Ohio State winning Saturday moves the Buckeyes from No. 6 in the Associated Press rankings to No. 5, and possibly into the top four. A loss and the Buckeyes likely drop out of the top 10. Notre Dame, currently No. 9, likely takes OSU’s spot at six if it can end its five-game losing streak against the scarlet and gray.
One loss does not disqualify either team from finishing among the final four, but it damages that chance more now than it will next year and beyond. So Saturday is a huge game, critical to both team’s playoff chances. So embrace the angst and enjoy what makes college football special, because the feeling won’t last much longer.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State football vs. Notre Dame still matters a ton, for now
