USC football visits Indiana this coming Saturday. As the Big Ten football world spins rapidly, a wildly improbable scenario has emerged surrounding Trojans-Hoosiers: USC will obviously be attempting to make its own way into the playoff, but the Trojans could keep Oregon and Ohio State alive in the race for a playoff berth.
The explanation is not that complicated, but the larger story is somewhat surprising relative to preseason expectations. None of us expected to be here seeing Oregon and Ohio State with three losses apiece in early November. Yet, that's reality for the Ducks and Buckeyes. Notable, though, is the fact that Oregon and Ohio State both have one nonconference loss. They have just two Big Ten losses, which keeps them in the Big Ten title
race due to the fact that only two teams have fewer than two losses: UCLA and Indiana.
This is where USC enters the picture. If the Trojans beat one-loss Indiana, Ohio State and Oregon get thrown back into the forefront of the Big Ten Championship Game chase. UCLA leads the conference with zero losses, but if USC knocks Indiana into the pack of teams with two Big Ten losses, Oregon and Ohio State could get to Indianapolis for a chance to win the Big Ten and get an automatic bid into the playoff. Oregon and Ohio State won't get an at-large bid to the CFP, but they can get in as Big Ten champion, and USC can make that happen if the Trojans beat Indiana. That result, if it unfolds, would create a multi-team tiebreaker for the second Big Ten title game spot behind UCLA.
This Big Ten football season has been nutty. Oregon and Ohio State requiring USC to win a huge road game in November is the latest scenario none of us could have anticipated back in early September.
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This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: USC holds the key to Oregon's and Ohio State's slim playoff hopes
