Beat Michigan or win a national title? Ohio State can answer what means more in this College Football Playoff

Would you rather beat Michigan or win a national championship?

Outside the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, the Ohio State-fan generated answer is probably at least 60% in favor of “Beat Michigan” at the bus stop, the dentist’s office or the local restaurant in central Ohio. The Buckeyes have not beaten the Wolverines since 2019, and the pain of a 13-10 loss on Nov. 30 – the fourth straight loss to Michigan – creates a seemingly distorted ethos in and around the outskirts of Interstate 270.

Other fan bases can say they will go 1-11 as long as they beat their rival. At Ohio State, it is a genuine sentiment. Maybe too genuine in the new era of college football that is suffering from rapid “NFL-ification.” Would a national championship in the first 12-team College Football Playoff – the program’s first since 2014 – offset that loss to a bitter rival?

That narrative is what makes the boom-or-bust nature of the matchup between No. 8 Ohio State (10-2) and No. 9 Tennessee (10-2) in the first round of the College Football Playoff on Saturday so interesting.