College football ticker: Does Ohio State have a case?

Michigan State went down Saturday night. And the Big Ten's College Football Playoff hopes went down with it.

Or did they?

If you ask most national college football analysts, you'll likely hear that there's no room left in the 4-team playoff for a Big Ten champion. But maybe – just maybe – Ohio State has something to say about that.

"I'm glad we got to play in prime time," Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer told reporters after his team thwacked MSU 49-37 at Spartan Stadium. "I'm glad (ESPN's College) GameDay was here. I'm glad everybody got to see the Ohio State Buckeyes. This is a different Buckeye team than it was earlier this season."

Yes, they suffered a brutal 35-21 loss at home to Virginia Tech on Sept. 6. Yes, that same Hokies team is last in the ACC Coastal division now.

But OSU has now won seven consecutive games, including Saturday's doozy in East Lansing. And it's not like they have a breezy remaining schedule; next week, the Buckeyes play at 7-2 Minnesota, then could play Nebraska or Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship game.

And given how crazy the college football landscape is ... you never know.

The worst play ever?

If you haven't check out any Oregon-Utah highlights yet, you might want to. They feature quite possibly the worst play of this college football season.

Ahead 7-0 on Saturday night, Utah was poised to take a 14-0 lead against the No. 4 ranked team in the country on a 78-yard Kaelin Clay touchdown reception in the second quarter.

There was just one problem: Clay dropped the ball at the 1-yard line. He began celebrating too soon – and Oregon realized it. The Ducks' Joe Walker picked the ball up and ran it 100 yards for a game-tying touchdown.

Instead of 14-0, it was 7-7. And the tone was set as Oregon went on to win 51-27 in Salt Lake City.

Quick hits

■ Our guess at Tuesday's College Football Playoff standings: Mississippi State, Florida State, Oregon and Alabama, with TCU right on the border.

■ Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly with a stern message for quarterback Everett Golson, who turned the ball over five times in a 55-31 loss to Arizona State: ""Sooner or later he's got to take it on himself to take care of the football. I don't know what else to do. We're at that point now where it hurt us in the game, obviously, and he knows it."

Compiled by staff reports and news services by Brian Manzullo: bmanzullo@freepress.com.