Imagine the lynchpin of Ohio State's plan to win being knocked out of a marquee game.
Yeah, think really hard about how that might go. It’s no ordinary affair; a prime time banger following a solid month of hype, strategy and preparation, absent of any other opponents or distractions.
Then suddenly: The Big Mismatch, The Huge Problem - that guy - has to leave the game, and the team is forced to respond with a something other than the original plan. Now imagine that happening twice in the same season.
It’s not much of a hypothetical.