COLUMBUS – A little over a week away from their season opening game against Oregon State and in the closing stages of an investigation of its head coach’s handling of abuse allegations against a fired assistant, Ohio State is ranked fifth in the preseason Associated Press poll.
RELATED: Ohio State trustees meet Wednesday to talk about the future of football coach Urban Meyer.
Defending national champion Alabama is just the second team to be ranked No. 1 for three straight seasons, receiving 42 out of 61 first-place votes.
Clemson received 18 first-place votes is ranked second.
Georgia is No. 3 and Wisconsin is fourth, getting one first-place vote.
Ohio State 2018 Football Schedule
Sept. 1 – Oregon State (Noon/ABC)
Sept. 8 – Rutgers (3:30 p.m./BTN)
Sept. 15 – vs. TCU, Arlington TX (8 p.m./ABC)
Sept. 22 – Tulane
Sept. 29 – at Penn State
Oct. 6 – Indiana (3:30 or 4 p.m./TV)
Oct. 13 – Minnesota
Oct. 20 – at Purdue
Oct. 27 – Off
Nov. 3 – Nebraska
Nov. 10 – at Michigan State
Nov. 17 – at Maryland
Nov. 24 – Michigan (Noon/FOX
Dec. 1 – Big Ten Championship Game
The Buckeyes are the only team to appear in the preseason poll every season during the BCS/College Football Playoff era. The overall streak of preseason Top 25 appearances is 30.
Washington, Oklahoma, Miami, Auburn and Penn St. round out the top 10.
The Nittany Lions, who will host Ohio State on Sept. 29, are one of four ranked teams on OSU schedule. The Buckeyes also travel to No. 11 Michigan State on Nov. 10 and host 14th-ranked Michigan on Nov. 24.
The third game of the season, on Sept. 15, is against TCU in Arlington, TX. The Horned Frogs are ranked 16th.