Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer and wide receiver Terry McLaurin, left, celebrate after the Buckeyes beat Northwestern 45-24 in the Big Ten championship game Saturday night in Indianapolis.INDIANAPOLIS – Dwayne Haskins and Urban Meyer reveled in the victory celebration Saturday night.
Now the College Football Playoff selection committee gets to decide whether the Big Ten champions will continue dancing through the next six weeks.
Shortly after Haskins made his case to win the Heisman Trophy by throwing five more touchdown passes, the Buckeyes defense fended off a second-half charge from No. 21 Northwestern and Meyer put his hands on a third conference championship trophy in five years as the conversation quickly turned to the more immediate fate of No. 6 Ohio State.
“This means representing the Big Ten Conference, arguably the best conference in college football, and the East Division, arguably the best division in college football,” Meyer said as the lobbying began after a 45-24 victory. “I think all you have to do is look is at the body of work. We went on the road and won some tough games – TCU, Penn State and Michigan State. The way we played against our rival (Michigan) and the way we played tonight, I think we deserve a shot.”
Three spots in the playoff appeared to be locked up after No. 1 Alabama beat No. 4 Georgia in the Southeastern Conference title game and Clemson earned another Atlantic Coast Conference crown by routing Pittsburgh. Alabama, Clemson and Notre Dame are all unbeaten and are expected to claim the top three spots.