Underdog role is unfamiliar for Ohio State football, but OSU has thrived as one in CFP
ATLANTA – For Ohio State, it is an unfamiliar feeling.
For the majority of Buckeyes players, it is an unprecedented one.
When Ohio State plays Georgia in Saturday night's College Football Playoff semifinal at the Peach Bowl, the Buckeyes will not be favored to win.
Not since losing to Alabama two years ago in the CFP championship game has Ohio State been an underdog. It will end a streak of 25 games as the betting favorite. For the 71 first- and second-year players on Ohio State's roster, they have never dressed for a game in which oddsmakers favored their opponent.
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(Coincidentally, this will be the final one in which gambling on the Buckeyes is illegal. Sports betting becomes legal in Ohio on Jan. 1.)
Georgia is a touchdown favorite, which should not be a surprise. The Bulldogs are 13-0 and defending national champions.
After its 45-23 loss to Michigan on Nov. 26, Ohio State needed Utah's win over Southern California in the Pac-12 championship game to gain back-door entry into the playoff. Many don't believe the Buckeyes deserve to be in the playoff, even though OSU is the only one-loss team in the country.
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Ohio State also will be playing in front of a pro-Georgia crowd at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Georgia's campus in Athens is slightly more than an hour away.
“I see a team that realizes that not a lot of people give us a chance,” OSU coach Ryan Day said.
He views that as a positive. Ohio State is used to being hunted. The Buckeyes are the team every opponent circles on its calendar. They seem to relish being doubted now.
“We love being an underdog,” defensive end Jack Sawyer said.
Sawyer, who is from Pickerington, was in elementary school when the Buckeyes won the 2014 title in the first year of the CFP.
“The last one we won, it was Ohio against the world,” Sawyer said. “I feel like it's always been like that, and so that's been our mindset going into this game and throughout practice: Ohio against the world.”
This will be Ohio State's seventh CFP game. The only time the Buckeyes have been favored came before their worst performance – a 31-0 shellacking by Clemson six years ago at the Fiesta Bowl when OSU was a 1-point favorite.
Ohio State has done much better in the CFP as an underdog. The Buckeyes are 3-2 in that role. They were 7½ -point underdogs against Alabama in the 2014 semifinals at the Sugar Bowl and won 42-35. Oregon was favored by 6 over Ohio State in the title game. OSU won 42-20.
Even in the Big Ten championship game that year, Wisconsin was a 4-point favorite over the Buckeyes because of questions about quarterback Cardale Jones following J.T. Barrett's injury against Michigan. Ohio State famously crushed the Badgers 59-0 to earn its way into the playoff.
In 2020, the Buckeyes dominated Clemson 49-28 as a 7-point underdog in that Sugar Bowl semifinal. That was a revenge game for the 2109 semifinal heartbreaker in which Ohio State fell 29-23 to the Tigers as a 2½-point underdog in the Fiesta Bowl.
Motivation will not be an issue for the current Buckeyes. They are still stinging from the Michigan loss. They also know that a victory over Georgia could give them a rematch against Michigan, which plays TCU in the other semifinal at the Fiesta Bowl on Saturday.
“Everyone thinks about the what-if there, but right now all we're focused on is beating Georgia,” OSU center Luke Wypler said, “because it doesn't matter if they win and we lose. We won't have the opportunity unless we beat Georgia.”
The Michigan loss caused days of painful reflection that didn't start to fade until Utah's victory over USC gave Ohio State new life. Now the Buckeyes want to find the silver lining in that defeat.
“I think anytime you take a loss like we did against the team up north, it's kind of a nice cold splash of water and makes you recalibrate where you're at and the things need to improve on,” Wypler said.
If Ohio State hadn't gotten a second chance at the CFP, the Buckeyes would likely be playing in the Orange Bowl. Many of their NFL-bound players likely would have opted out of playing to avoid injury. It would have served more as a preseason game for 2023.
But they did get a second chance, and now they're determined to capitalize. That Las Vegas doesn't think they will only adds to their hunger.
“Me personally, I feel like I've been an underdog my whole life,” third-year safety Lathan Ransom said. “I almost sometimes prefer being an underdog, so I'm excited for this moment.”
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State football seeks to repeat success as CFP underdog
