Ohio State football has a brand new spot in too-early top 25 rankings from a major outlet
Spring football is over for the Ohio State Buckeyes and we won’t see them back in action until fall camp. Still, there’s a lot of hype building around Ohio State in offseason college football rankings.
Spring football practice is wrapped up for the Ohio State football program and summer workouts will soon start. Ohio State will have much of its focus on recruiting over the next couple of months, then when August is back it’s all about the current team.
Ohio State is going to have lofty expectations entering the 2026 season. Ryan Day hasn’t often had a quarterback in his system as a starter for two years and three seasons overall spent in the program. Julian Sayin will be that guy and he’ll have one last year of throwing the football to Jeremiah Smith. After last year ended with two straight losses to Indiana and Miami, there’s a lot of hype around the Buckeyes ahead of the season.
USA Today moves Ohio State up on their too-early college football top 25
In a recent too-early college football top 25 ranking, the Buckeyes went up one spot. Ohio State is now the No. 1 team in USA Today’s rankings ahead of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Other notable teams are Indiana (5), Oregon (8), USC (10), and Michigan (13).
“Ohio State is the favorite to win its second national title in three years and the Big Ten’s fourth in a row. The offense should be virtually unstoppable thanks to the combination of Sayin, Smith, running back Bo Jackson and more. New coordinator Arthur Smith should bring new and dynamic ideas to the table that broaden the Buckeyes’ ability to attack defenses. On the defensive side, Ohio State bring back just three starters. But that’s nothing new: Last year’s defense also brought back three starters and ranked first nationally in yards and points per game. The key will be maintaining a furious pass rush without standouts such as Arvell Reese and Caden Curry.”
Usa today
Ohio State will travel to Texas in Week 2 of the college football season and the Longhorns come in at No. 3. The trip to Austin is just one of the tough games on the 2026 schedule for Day’s squad. Ohio State will travel to Indiana and USC for tough road games, while also having to play Oregon and Michigan.
Lofty expectations are nothing new in Columbus and it’s the reason why the Buckeyes are forced to reload every season. Outside of Carnell Tate, there is no real loss for the offense besides new faces needing to rise in the tight end room. The defense is going to be the major question for the Buckeyes and it’s a great opportunity for defensive coordinator Matt Patricia.
Ohio State is going to return ~three defensive starters at most from last season, and it’s the second year in a row with that much turnover. If the Buckeyes can have new faces step in without much drop off, they’ll be in the mix to win it all.
It’s only the offseason and rankings don’t mean too much right now. But one thing is for sure, there’s going to be pressure on the Buckeyes to deliver in Smith’s final season in Columbus as one of the best playmakers the game has seen at this level.
