Ohio State Football: Can Minnesota Spoil the Buckeyes' Playoff Hopes?

After Ohio State fell to Virginia Tech in Week 2, it took two months, a handful of blowouts and a convincing victory over Michigan State for Urban Meyer's squad to truly reenter the College Football Playoff race.

The Buckeyes, who ascended six spots to No. 8 in this week's rankings, will need to bring their best to Minneapolis this weekend to keep pace in an ever-narrowing sprint to the finish line.

What's waiting for them this Saturday is a feisty Minnesota team coming off its best performance of the year—a 51-14 demolition of the surging Iowa Hawkeyes. The Gophers, now 7-2 on the year, are hoping to derail Ohio State just a week after it got back on track. 

Are the Buckeyes destined for a dreaded hangover game after avenging last year's loss to the Spartans? Meyer is working hard to prevent that.

"We spend every second of our day on trying to make sure that [a hangover] doesn't happen," Meyer said, according to Tim Shoemaker of Eleven Warriors. "You watch the video tape, and here's a team that's won a bunch of games, and their last game was their best game against Iowa." 

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They looked so good against the Hawkeyes, in fact, that the Gophers popped up in this week's playoff rankings, coming in at No. 25. This is certainly a team that has improved drastically since the Buckeyes last saw it in 2008, when they cruised to an easy 38-7 victory in Columbus.

So how did Minnesota emerge from a bottom-dwelling Big Ten team to a legitimate threat? Credit for that belongs to head coach Jerry Kill, who took over in 2011 and improved the program incrementally during his tenure. The Gophers won just three games in his first season, but they registered six victories in 2012 and broke out for eight in 2013. 

Saturday, they'll be looking for a program-defining win over Ohio State. The Gophers will lean on their 21st-ranked defense and a strong running game fueled by running back David Cobb—who ranks eighth nationally with 1,205 rushing yards—to pull the upset. But will they have enough firepower to keep pace with a Buckeyes team that is hitting on all cylinders?

The good folks in Las Vegas don't think so. According to Odds Shark, Ohio State will enter Saturday's contest as 12.5-point favorites, but that line has moved down two points since Sunday.

ANDY CLAYTON-KING/Associated Press

When conference play kicked off, the Michigan State game looked like Ohio State's only opportunity to really impress pollsters before a potential trip to the Big Ten title game. But with Minnesota's emergence, the Buckeyes will have another national audience (ABC, noon ET) to put on a show against a quality opponent. And with just three games remaining in the regular season, Meyer's squad needs to take advantage and prove it's worthy of a playoff spot with an impressive showing.

Can the Buckeyes do that against a Minnesota team that likes to play ugly, defense-first football? That's something the selection committee will be interested in finding out because this same Gophers team was blasted 30-7 by TCU earlier this season. The Horned Frogs, who rank No. 4 in this week's standings, would indirectly receive a boost if the Buckeyes struggle this Saturday.

That's why it's so important for Ohio State to put on a show against Minnesota. If it struggles in what should be frigid conditions on the road, the Buckeyes' playoff hopes would crash before they even had a chance to take off.

All stats via NCAA.com.

David Regimbal covers Ohio State football for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @davidreg412.