Savor it now.
Before long, it will increasingly become a rarity.
No. 3-ranked Ohio State hosts No. 7-ranked Penn State on Saturday (noon, Fox) in what will be a season-defining game for both Big Ten teams.
Both teams are undefeated at 6-0, and the result likely will dictate their College Football Playoff outlooks. A loss significantly hurts their chances to earn a playoff bid, relegating the loser to a long list of strong one-loss teams trying to prove their résumé is superior.
For years, college football fans have seen one midseason loss wreck the ambitions of an entire season and prevent their team from joining the coveted playoff company.
It’s why when high-stakes games such as this year’s Ohio State-Penn State showdown (or last week’s Washington-Oregon or potentially these teams’ games next month against Michigan) come around, they often feel like the Super Bowl. How many teams’ fates are determined by a single regular-season game?
But those types of season-altering games will soon lose much of their luster.
Starting next year, the College Football Playoff is expanding dramatically, from four to 12 teams. A plethora of schools with one loss — even two losses — will earn bids to the playoff and receive second chances.
The six highest-ranked conference champions, according to the CFP rankings, will receive automatic bids, followed by at-large bids for the next six highest-ranked teams. The top four conference champions will get byes into the quarterfinals.
Proponents of the transformation claim it’s a much more fair and inclusive system. In the four-team system, there is annually controversy over one or two teams that get left out over teams with the same record and similar qualifications.
But opponents of the change are steadfast that it will reduce the importance of the regular season by removing much of the stakes to games like Ohio State-Penn State.
Under the new format, they argue, the result has exponentially fewer repercussions and, in turn, intrigue. Fears over how it will impact television viewership naturally follow.
“The regular season has become more important,” CFP executive director Bill Hancock said last year when the decision was announced. “The game of college football is certainly very healthy. Look at the viewership. Look at the number of people in the stands. I think this 12-team tournament will only enhance that.”
College football’s regular season will soon feel radically different. As will the Big Ten.
As part of the sport’s sudden realignment, the conference (which already had 14 teams) is expanding to 18 teams starting next year. USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington will join the conference.
And as part of the process, the Big Ten is eliminating its East and West divisions within the conference.
It’s a big change: The divisions determine which teams’ abilities to reach the Big Ten Championship game.
Ohio State and Penn State are both in the loaded Big Ten East, meaning their matchup has huge implications in the standings beyond their rankings. In the current system, teams play every team in their division as well as three crossover games against teams in the other division.
Given how stacked the Big Ten East is, with Spygate-investigated Michigan and Michigan State in the division as well, the East has proven far more difficult to win than the West, which featured Wisconsin and Iowa as its only dangerous teams in recent years.
Without those divisions, heavyweight bouts such as Ohio State-Penn State will have ramifications for the entire conference, but a lesser effect on which teams from the conference make the playoff.
Enjoy these matchups while you can. They’re about to look a whole lot different.
Sitting dead last in the NFC East at 1-5, if the Giants are to somehow rescue their season, it likely will be through their youngest players.
At receiver, rookie Jalin Hyatt and second-year Wan’Dale Robinson will continue to see their playing time increase. For an offense that has failed to score a touchdown in three-plus games, they’re likely the two most dynamic weapons in the passing game.
“I think [Hyatt’s] fast and that he’s got to play,” head coach Brian Daboll said Wednesday. “You can go out here and practice and do that, which is important, but you’ve got to get some game reps and run routes against [defensive backs] that are playing in the NFL in a competitive way. I think each week, he’s gotten a little bit better. There’s a lot to learn when you’re a young player, but he’s done a good job of practicing the right way, of preparing. I think he’s got some good talent, and we’re going to play him.”
On the shorthanded offensive line, Evan Neal, who’s shown modest signs of growth, and John Michael Schmitz, who eventually will return from a shoulder injury, should help stabilize a unit that has struggled mightily this year.
Neal, now in his second season, delivered his best game of the year during the Giants’ Week 6 loss to the Bills, not surrendering any sacks and earning a season-high 57.1 overall grade from Pro Football Focus. Obviously, Neal still has significant work to do, but it’s a step in the right direction.
And though Schmitz’s status for the team’s Week 7 matchup with the Commanders isn’t promising, his impending return offers the promise for more help. Ben Bredeson has filled in at center in Schmitz’s absence, with rough results. Returning to guard, his natural position, would be optimal.
On defense, second-year pass rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux is the most likely candidate to help the Giants improve on an NFL-worst five sacks this season. Four of those belong to Thibodeaux, whose solid performance has flown somewhat under the radar amid the team’s broader struggles.
In the secondary, rookie Deonte Banks is emerging as the team’s best cornerback. His five forced incompletions rank second in the NFL among rookies, according to PFF. His 56.2 overall grade from PFF is higher than Adoree’ Jackson (40.5), who has served as the team’s top cornerback since arriving two years ago.
It came down to the final day of the regular season and the finest of margins after a nail-biting 2-2 draw at Red Bull Arena, but Gotham FC qualified for the NWSL playoffs just one year after finishing in a distant last place. No. 6 seed Gotham travels to face the No. 3 seed North Carolina Courage on Sunday (7 p.m., CBS Sports Network) in the first round.
The Post’s Jonathan Lehman was on hand as forward Lynn Williams — who led the team with seven goals and also was named to the roster for the United States women’s national team camp next week — sat down to chat about this Gotham team, the bizarre October schedule and why the NWSL is poised for a thrill ride.
With Decision Day, Ali’s final game, going ahead, drawing, what was it like at the end of that game?
Williams: The NWSL is wild, especially this year, the table is so close, any goal or anything seemed to be moving everybody all over the board. Obviously, when we’re in the game, we don’t realize that. But people on the sidelines knew what was happening. And we knew at the very end of the game that if we stayed tied that Orlando had to score two more goals to nudge us out on goal differential. … So everybody was just like, ‘C’mon, let’s just get in.’ And then when that happened, everybody was obviously relieved and then it just turned more to celebrating Ali [Krieger, the Gotham and former USWNT defender who’s retiring at the end of the season]. We’ve been celebrating her all week, all season, and we are so honored and grateful that we just get to continue to celebrate her.
What do you think are the biggest areas of improvement for the team heading into Sunday?
Williams: North Carolina, they’re a possession team, but they’re also a team that can hit you on transition, and obviously in the Kansas City game we got scored on on kind of a transitional play as well. So just making sure that as a unit, as a group, we’re shifting together and defending well together and staying organized and disciplined, I think would be our key. And then when we get our opportunities, making sure that we take them.
How have you adjusted to playing in this particular system, and why do you think you’ve been successful this year because of it?
Williams: I was with North Carolina for most of my career. And then moved to Kansas City and didn’t play a minute because of my injury. But in North Carolina, we played the two [forward] front, and then coming to Gotham, we obviously play a three front, which is very similar to the national team. So I think that my experience on the national team has translated very well. And also my experience here has translated both ways, just learning the position better, learning the system better and then just growing into a more veteran leadership role.
How are you and your teammates planning on balancing the US women’s national team with the NWSL playoffs? [Ed.: Gotham’s Midge Purce also was named to the USWNT roster for a pair of late-October friendlies against Colombia.]
Williams: I think that this is a very interesting year where you play the first game and then there’s gonna be a lull with the international break and then we’re coming back to hopefully finish the rest of the playoffs. … When you’re a Gotham player and an international player, you know how to compartmentalize, you get really good at it the longer you do it. And then you know that all the players that are staying back home are doing every single thing that it takes to stay ready, so hopefully it will be an easier transition when you get back. I think, when you have a very clear game plan, a very clear style, it’s easier to go back and forth. … We only have a month left of the season until the championship game [on Nov. 11 in San Diego], so just being able to stay in that mentally for that month, it’s one month for the rest of our lives.
With the NWSL standings being so tight, what do you think that does for interest in these playoffs?
Williams: I think at one point [from] the first place to the last place team there was like six points separating, which was crazy. I think from a fan experience and just a sports experience in general, I think that more people should be talking about it. … I don’t know if this has happened in any other league, any other time, ever. … As a player, when I was in North Carolina, it was incredible to clinch the playoffs so early. Then you start to mess around with tactics, all these other things that you could do. But right now, you can’t do that. It’s just: You’ve got to win and advance, and however you can get the ball in the back of the net and however you can keep the ball out of your net. But as a fan, I think that’s exactly what you want to see is parity and just intense, exciting games.
Liberty superstar Breanna Stewart, who was crowned this year’s WNBA MVP, delivered one of the worst performances of her career when her team needed her most.
In a win-or-go-home Game 4 of the WNBA Finals, she scored just 10 points on a woeful 3-of-17 shooting from the field, including 0-for-3 from 3-point range, and committed three turnovers in the Liberty’s one-point loss to the Aces, which secured back-to-back titles for Las Vegas.
It was part of a nightmarish Finals for the impending free agent Stewart, who averaged 16.3 points and 2.8 turnovers per game while shooting a paltry 36 percent from the field and 18 percent from behind the arc. The numbers didn’t compare to her regular-season stats: She scored 23 points per game on 47 percent shooting from the field and 36 percent from behind the arc.
There was ample controversy in her MVP win, which had the closest voting in WNBA history. Aces star A’Ja Wilson, one of the top candidates for the award, went head-to-head against Stewart in the finals, and seemed to take the matchup personally, completely outplaying her East Coast rival in the series en route to winning finals MVP.
After a razor-thin MVP race, the final battle wasn’t close.
Predators 4, Rangers 1: A beatdown and a wakeup call for the lineup. As The Post’s Larry Brooks wrote, “It wasn’t the system that let down the Rangers; it was the Rangers who let down the system and each other.”
Diamondbacks 2, Phillies 1: Ketel Marte’s walkoff single in the ninth against Craig Kimbrel made this a series again.
Astros 10, Rangers 3: The defending champions won their second straight on the road, scoring a combined 18 runs in Arlington.
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