For the second time in three years, the Ohio State University football team has made the four-team postseason playoff. The Buckeyes learned on Sunday that they made the tournament ahead of Penn State, despite losing to the Nittany Lions during the regular season and the Big Ten championship that Penn Sate won on Saturday.
OSU will play the Clemson Tigers in the Fiesta Bowl, which serves as one semifinal game, on New Year's Eve. Alabama and Washington square off in the the other semifinal, the Peach Bowl, and the two winners play for the national title on January 9.
"The amount of teams that were worthy of this, I just said 'I'm gonna send a text out to our players and staff right now that we receive this opportunity with incredible humility and class,' cause I can name six, seven teams that are that quality of teams," said OSU head coach Urban Meyer after the playoff teams were announced.
Penn State finished fifth in the playoff rankings, followed by Michigan, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin, all teams that Ohio State beat this season.
For more on which teams have a legitimate gripe about being left out of the playoff, WOSU's Steve Brown spoke with Columbus Dispatch sports columnist Rob Oller.
