The College Football Playoff selection committee always have a difficult task in selecting the top four teams for the playoff field, but no one will argue that task became even more difficult when they had to weight resumes of teams with anywhere from six to 11 games.
From strictly a game planning perspective, when it comes to Ohio State (who has only played six games) Dabo Swinney believes the Buckeyes only playing six games provides an advantage for his staff and team.
"Obviously, you study their games this year...and that will be a quick study for us, because there was only six. So that will be a little easier. Typically you're going into these with 13 games to study, so it won't be as exalting of a task there."
Asked to expand on the idea that game planning with only six games to look at would be simpler by one of the hosts of Packer and Durham, Dabo went on to share;
"From a process standpoint, absolutely. Typically, you have 13 games. They are going to have to study our 11 games. You have to study every play - offense, defense, special teams. You're studying every play, plus you're going back to last year. So yeah, it does make it a little easier because there's not as much tape to pour through. You can't make it up. There's only six games."
From a coaching perspective, while Dabo has a point, there's also a logical flip side to that coin, in that maybe Ohio State was able to keep some schemes and plans in their back pocket and not show everything. The Buckeyes played in two games that finished with the opponent within one-score (Penn State and Indiana), and the put up 49 or more in half of their games, while allowing 17 or less in half as well.
While Dabo's point rings true to a degree, Ohio State certainly didn't need to empty their playbooks to get to 6-0. They'll have some wrinkles that Dabo and his staff won't find on that film to make their playoff match up must-watch material.
Dabo already gave the Buckeyes some serious bulletin board material when his Coaches Poll votes went public, maybe they'll consider this view on game planning for them in a similar light.