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August 5, 2017With Ohio State’s season opener and the first day of the college football season just 27 days away, preseason football is well on its way. While camps have began across the country, the first of two main rankings were released on Thursday. In the preseason Coaches Poll, the Ohio State Buckeyes are ranked No.2, only behind No. 1 Alabama.
Although they lost plenty of talent both to graduation and early entrants into the NFL Draft, Urban Meyer and his staff have made sure they the Buckeyes are reloading, not rebuilding. Even with all the talent that went onto the next level, Ohio State still has plenty of experience and leadership, including quarterback J.T. Barrett, who is entering his third season as the starting signal-caller.
Last week, head coach Urban Meyer stated that he doesn’t see a gap between the Big Ten and SEC anymore. Having coached in both conferences, his word means a lot. But, in case you didn’t believe him, there are four Big Ten teams in the top 10: No. 2 Ohio State, No. 6 Penn State, No. 9 Michigan, No. 10 Wisconsin. The SEC? Just one. They have four teams ranked between 12-16, but just one in the top 10.
Yeah, their conference dominated for over a decade, but it seems as though other teams have (finally) caught up to them. Alabama has always been dominant during that time, but the others? Meh.
The Buckeyes are slated to play three ranked teams: No. 8 Oklahoma1, No. 6 Penn State2, No. 9 Michigan3.
Although they are ranked No. 10, Wisconsin is a darkhorse not only in the country, but in the Big Ten. Not only do the Badgers have quite an easy schedule, but they don’t have to play Ohio State this season and get both Iowa and Michigan at home. Wisconsin could potentially be undefeated going into the Big Ten Championship game.
Here’s your yearly reminder that preseason rankings don’t mean as much as many may make them out to be. That said, it still shows what coaches around the country think of Ohio State. Here’s the full rankings:
- Alabama
- Ohio State
- Florida State
- USC
- Clemson
- Penn State
- Washington
- Oklahoma
- Michigan
- Wisconsin
- Oklahoma State
- LSU
- Auburn
- Stanford
- Georgia
- Florida
- Louisville
- Miami
- Kansas State
- West Virginia
- South Florida
- Virginia Tech
- Texas
- Tennessee
- Utah
6 Comments
Clemson really gonna be that high after all they lost?
Plan50s
I don’t know – am I the only one who thinks OSU is worse with JT at QB? If he can’t improve his throwing this team ain’t going nowhere. I know they didn’t have much at WR last season (at least compared to what they historically have) but JT was pretty darn bad, and it made all the difference.
Bad group of WRs last year. Not sure how much of it is on JT, but that hurts, too. Regardless, I think your concern is not unfounded.
We got rid of some bad offensive coaches. Brought in Indiana’s old HC to become the OC. Indiana always seemed to put up a lot of points on offense, even against OSU. I feel like JT has regressed since his freshman year, but it seems like they try to run him too much and as soon as he hikes it, if it is a run, everyone knows it.
Man, whomever gets to the B1G title game from the East will be battle-tested.
OSU gets Oklahoma, plus PSU and UM, plus roadies (presumably night) at Iowa and Nebraska.
UM gets Florida (neutral Jerry World game), PSU (road, prob. night), Wiscy (road, prob. night), and OSU.
PSU gets a roadie at Iowa, UM, OSU, and Nebraska (easily the easiest of the “big 3” but going to Iowa City at night is never easy, plus having @Iowa, vs. Indiana, @Northwestern, vs. UM, @OSU is a tough stretch, even with a bye week before the last two)