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August 23, 2016Just like last season, the Ohio State Buckeyes football team open the season ranked in the Associated Press Top 25. Unlike in 2015, however, they are not sitting at the top. The Buckeyes will carry a No. 6 ranking into their kickoff with Bowling Green on Saturday, September 3 to open the season. Several other Big Ten teams received pre-season recognition as well. Michigan is ranked No. 7, reigning conference champ Michigan State opens at No. 12, and defending West Division Champ Iowa enters ranked No. 17. Alabama, Clemson, and Oklahoma make up the top three.
Forward-looking Buckeyes will recognize that if the rankings hold, Ohio State’s first true test will come Saturday, September 17 when the Scarlet and Gray visit Norman, Oklahoma for a date with the Sooners. This potential top ten matchup will be a tall order for an OSU club looking to replace a bevy of departing NFL talent with freshmen and first time starters. Oklahoma qualified for the College Football Playoff last season and entertains dreams of a return to the postseason.
Pre-season rankings are almost entirely speculative, and there is no guarantee a high ranking in August will equate to National Championship in January (as the Bucks learned in 2015). Still, here is a quick look at how Ohio State ranked pre- and post-season in the AP Poll under head coach Urban Meyer.
Meyer’s Buckeye clubs have tended to climb the AP rankings during the season and on average they finish higher than where they started. Obviously, the AP Poll loses most of its luster when the first CFP rankings drop in October, but it is still encouraging for Ohio State fans to see the Buckeyes well regarded in the national media (including a lone first place vote). Ohio State will get their chance to improve that ranking in thirteen days.
1. Alabama (33)
2. Clemson (16)
3. Oklahoma (4)
4. Florida State (5)
5. LSU (1)
6. Ohio State (1)
7. Michigan (1)
8. Stanford
9. Tennessee
10. Notre Dame
11. Ole Miss
12. Michigan State
13. TCU
14. Washington
15. Houston
16. UCLA
17. Iowa
18. Georgia
19. Louisville
20. USC
21. Oklahoma State
22. North Carolina
23. Baylor
24. Oregon
25. Florida
*Big Ten teams are in bold
29 Comments
Preseason polls are what’s wrong with college football.
Yeah there should be no rankings until Oct 1 or somewhere thereabouts. But even if there were no formal polls, there would be “power polls” released by various organizations, media outlets etc, and those would taint the October 1st polls. There’s really no way around it unfortunately.
Preseason polls allow the press to push hype narratives. They’ll never give up that “power”. Ever.
A 12-team or more playoff structure would help.
The bias is astounding, and I maintain that it absolutely plays a part in the final playoff selection.
Bias? No such thing. Just ask anyone at the Four Letter…
I think 8 would be just right.
The Power-5 conference champs plus 3 at-large.
I think 8 is the number. 5 conf champs and 3 at large (inc. at least 1 “non power 5 team). If you go 12, then you have to give 4 teams bye weeks…
ehhh…what do I know? The only thing that matters to the NCAA is maximizing revenue
I make this argument every year. Every other level of football from high school to the NFL, including every level of college football below “FBS,” has figured out how to do a meaningful playoff system with 12 or more teams. I still think that 12 is the sweet spot, and don’t care if the SEC gets their 4 bye weeks (because you know they will).
Is there anything more useless than ESPN? I only watch it for the actual football games (and I still enjoy College Gameday) and when I need a Tom Rinaldi fix to see if my tear ducts still work.
Isn’t that what we have now? I mean these polls are meaningless since the Selection Committee doesn’t release their rankings until October.
Eight is better than 12 in this case due to maximizing the regular season.
All Power-Five conference champs
One Group of Five champ – add late season CFP-Buster weekend between high-ranking teams!
Two wild cards
When you go to 12, the WC increase to six and there is less incentive to care about games outside your conference. With only two WC, they will always be up for grabs late in the season no matter what your record happens to be.
We do this every year, and I continue to disagree. Get rid of the non-conference nonsense with all of the South Carolina Cuisine and Auto Tech schools. No way the regular season becomes less important if the regular season is primarily your conference. Everyone wants to win their conference.
Again, as you and I have gone back and forth on this issue, there’s absolutely no way that the committee is immune to these polls. These polls absolutely, unequivocally taint the jury.
And I don’t think you have to increase the Wild Card to 6. We need to stop the “Power 5” nonsense. Keep two wild cards and let other conference champs in.
Yeah, the question is always to what extent. I mean, we have Tom Osborne on the committee, so there are plenty of biases ingrained 🙂
I propose a 16-team playoff.
All 10 D-1 league champs plus 6 at-large.
Same number of weeks as a 12-team playoff, and everybody is happy.
If you let in each conference champ, then I’d be fine with 12. We both know the Po5 schools would never let that happen. Too much money on the table.
I propose a 123 team tournament that starts Week 1 of the regular season and culminate with a New Year’s Day national championship game.
The real question is why do we have a committee picking playoff participants?!
That’s actually my dream scenario.
Problem solved!
Once again, eat your heart out Scout. 😀
because the pollsters have proven to be worse
Aaaaarrrrgggghhh. So why use EITHER? What is this, the 2016 Presidential election?
because we don’t live in a world where the Po5 conferences will allow the Go5 conferences equal footing. heck, it is even in the name as one gets GROUP and the other gets POWER
Named by whom? The world? The NCAA? ESPN? Cut off the head of the snake, and the whole thing dies. Do not passively accept subjugation!! It’s time for a football revolution.
If we are doing a football revolution, then it should start with the players forming a union and demanding fair pay.
Revolution, not communist uprising.
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