Football
It would be a shock if the Ohio State Buckeyes aren’t still the No. 1 team in the latest college football rankings coming out of Week 6. They received 46 first-place votes for the AP Top 25 a week ago, dwarfing the 16 that No. 2-ranked Oregon received, and then thoroughly handled Minnesota in Columbus on Saturday in a 42-3 victory. Just based completely on how AP voters have handled this team since taking down the Texas Longhorns in Week 1, the top spot is likely still theirs.
That, however, might be slightly misguided from the AP voters. In a young season in which the AP Top 25 and several specific voters have come under fire for their ballots and process, the idea that voters should be re-evaluating the landscape of the sport and their rankings with every possible data point available has seemingly gone by the wayside in favor of already-established biases.
Ohio State and, in particular, their win over Texas might be the most obvious example of that at this point now, too. Because while the Buckeyes have undeniably looked the part of one of the best teams in the country, their résumé doesn’t exactly hold up next to teams behind them in the rankings, the Miami Hurricanes specifically.
Texas’ downfall should mean re-evaluating Ohio State’s ranking
Because Texas came into the season as the No. 1-ranked team in the country, everyone viewed the gritty Ohio State victory as a huge early feather in the Buckeyes’ cap. They took down the much-hyped Arch Manning and made him look substandard, and found just enough offense in Julian Sayin’s first start to pull out the victory.
As time has gone on, though, that has looked to be much more of an issue with the Longhorns than something to credit Ohio State with. That’s even more so the case after Texas’ stunning upset loss in Week 6 on the road at Florida as Manning’s precipitous fall from grace continues and with the team looking just entirely unsettled.
Texas is now in a position wherein, despite being 3-2 on the season, the Longhorns have not beaten a Power Four team this season. They’ve played only two, and lost to both the Buckeyes and Gators now. Their best win to date is a victory over San Jose State, a game in which Steve Sarkisian’s team also didn’t make it look nearly as easy as it should have.
To be clear, none of that is to discredit what Ohio State has done to this point. Unlike the Longhorns, they’ve taken care of business against everyone. Sitting at 5-0. on the year, they now have three victories over Power Four competition, including two in-conference that came by a combined score of 66-9.
However, when it comes to rankings, not all Power Four wins are created equal and that has to be considered when evaluating résumés. And to this point, there are simply teams with a better body of work than what Ohio State has put forth.
Ohio State should probably concede No. 1 ranking to Miami, at least for now
Miami, specifically, simply has a stronger body of work to this point than Ohio State. When the Week 7 AP Top 25 is released on Sunday, there’s a real chance that Miami will have three victories over currently ranked teams, including the most recent road win over rival Florida State, a win over Notre Dame, a blowout victory against one of the best Group of Five teams in the sport, South Florida, and even a big win over Florida to its credit now.
When it comes to rankings, my M.O. has always been to identify which teams have put together the most impressive wins and — though it’s not relevant in this case — the quality of losses. Miami simply has the better wins to its credit than the Buckeyes currently do. And to be clear, that’s something that could be said comparing Miami and No. 2-ranked Oregon as well after watching Penn State lose to previously winless UCLA this weekend.
Having said all of this, though, none of this is to devalue Ohio State and what they’re capable. Anyone watching this Buckeyes team, especially as Sayin comes more into his own with each game and with more experience, would rightly tell you that the Buckeyes are a legitimate threat to win back-to-back national championships. They reloaded after last year’s title and are right back in the hunt.
However, if we’re talking about the integrity of these early-season rankings, the Buckeyes aren’t being considered correctly based on what they’ve done. Without question, this should still be a Top 5 team in college football — but putting them at No. 1 over a team like Miami at this point doesn’t quite match up with what the two separate teams have accomplished to this point shouldn’t compute to any reasonable evaluator of the situation.
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