Ohio State Buckeyes return to College Football Playoff

An agonizing wait for Ohio State ended at 12:30 p.m. Sunday when the College Football Playoff announced the four semifinalists. Ohio State (11-1) earned the No. 3 seed and will play No. 2 Clemson (12-1) in the Fiesta Bowl at 7 p.m. Dec. 31. It will be Ohio State’s second trip to Glendale, Ariz., in as many years. It beat Notre Dame 44-28 in the Fiesta Bowl last season, though that was not a playoff game.

The other semifinal pits No. 1 seed Alabama (13-0) against No. 4 seed Washington (12-1) in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta at 3 p.m. Dec. 31.

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The playoff announcement wasn’t even the best news for Ohio State coach Urban Meyer on Sunday. He and his wife Shelley became grandparents for the first time as his daughter Nicki Meyer Dennis gave birth to a boy, Troy.

“Last night we were just going to have dinner and she was going to come over,” Meyer said. “We got a phone call. Shelley and Nicki had their talk, which I’m not a part of. (Shelley) said, ‘Looks like things are going.’ I said, ‘Like moving?’ She said, ‘Yup.’ And (Nicki) went to the hospital. They kept her over.”

Meyer got a little bit of sleep. His wife went to the hospital at 4 a.m. The baby was born at 5:30. Meyer arrived with his son, Nathan, at 6:15 and got to meet the baby. He watched the selection show at the maternity ward and counted his blessings.

“I understand these are all gifts and you’re just very grateful that God blessed my daughter with a healthy baby and a great husband,” Meyer said. “Those are my the first thoughts. Second of all, there’s so many teams that were worthy of this. I’m going to send a text out to my players and staff right now that we receive this opportunity with incredible humility and class because I can name six, seven teams right now that are (playoff-quality teams).”

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One of those was Big Ten champion Penn State (11-2), which finished fifth in the final ranking, one spot ahead of Michigan (10-2). Ohio State became the first non-conference championship to earn a playoff berth. Penn State, which beat Wisconsin 38-31 in the Big Ten title game Saturday, became the first Big Ten champion left out of the playoff.

“It was a bizarre year,” Meyer said. “It’s a year that I don’t really question anything. We just got to do our jobs every day.”

Ohio State last made the playoff in 2014, the first year of the playoff era, and beat Alabama 42-35 in the Sugar Bowl and Oregon 42-20 in the national championship game.

Quarterback J.T. Barrett watched those games from a scooter on the sideline. He broke his foot in the regular-season finale against Michigan.

Now as a redshirt junior, Barrett is healthy and counting his blessings. He watched the selection show alone on his couch while eating chicken wings. Not long after the announcement, he sent a text message to Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson, telling him “See you in Arizona.”

Meyer said he was anxious waiting for the announcement. Barrett didn’t worry. Clemson jumped from No. 3 to No. 2 in the final rankings, but the top four remain unchanged.

“I felt like we were at a pretty good spot,” Barrett said. “I mean, when you think about our games, the competition we played, as far as our whole season, I thought that said a lot for us. So I wasn’t really nervous, just excited where we was going to be placed.”

Alabama (13-0) made the playoff for the third straight season. Clemson (12-1) will play in the playoff for the second straight season. Alabama beat Clemson 45-40 in the national championship game last season.

Alabama clinched the top spot by routing No. 17 Florida 54-16 on Saturday in the SEC title game. Clemson beat No. 22 Virginia Tech 42-35 in the ACC title game. Washington beat No. 10 Colorado 41-10 in the Pac 12 championship game Friday.

The Nittany Lions did all they could Saturday, but in the end, the decisive victories for Ohio State and Penn State came early this season. In the end, here’s what separated the two teams:

• Better record: Ohio State and Penn State both had 11 victories, but Penn State had two losses to Ohio State's one.

• Quality wins: Ohio State beat three teams in the top 10: No. 6 Michigan, No. 7 Oklahoma and No. 8 Wisconsin. The Buckeyes lost only to a top-10 team: Penn State. The Nittany Lions beat two top-10 teams: Ohio State and Wisconsin. They lost to one top-10 team, Michigan, but also lost to a team at the bottom of the rankings, No. 23 Pittsburgh.

• Score vs. Michigan: Ohio State beat Michigan 30-27 in overtime in Columbus on Nov. 26. Penn State lost 49-10 at Michigan on Sept. 24.

Penn State did have an argument, based on two key points, for being included over Ohio State.

• Head to head: Penn State beat Ohio State 24-21 in State College, Pa., on Oct. 22.

• Conference champion: The Nittany Lions rallied from a 28-7 deficit to beat Wisconsin 38-31 in the Big Ten championship on Saturday in Indianapolis.

Ohio State may have made the playoff by a thin margin, but now that it’s in, it stands a good chance to win, even with a young roster that in a lot of ways mirrors the 2014 team that won it all.

“We were clearly one of the better teams in America,” defensive end Tyquan Lewis said. “We work just as hard as anyone if not harder than everyone. This is one of the hardest places to play at ‘cause everything that we go through during the offseason, training camp, every week it’s a battle. Everyone wants to give us their best shot. We have to step up to the plate. This team, we battled through some things. We know what it’s like to overcome challenges. Now we’re just excited to get an opportunity. We’re just going to keep pushing forward.”

NEXT GAME

Ohio State vs. Clemson, 7 p.m., Dec. 31., ABC, 1410

Ohio State (11-1) vs. Clemson (12-1)

Passing offense: Ohio State (221.2 yards per game); Clemson: 332.6.

Rushing offense: Ohio State (258.3); Clemson (173.5).

Passing defense: Ohio State (164.5); Clemson (188.2).

Rushing defense: Ohio State (117.8); Clemson (125.8).

Scoring offense: Ohio State (42.7 points per game); Clemson (40.2).

Scoring defense: Ohio State (14.2); Clemson (18.4).