COLUMBUS – The Buckeyes head into their off-week with a more solid grip on the top spot in the major college football polls, one week before the College Football Playoff committee releases its first rankings of the season.
Ohio State hosts Minnesota Nov. 7 (8:00 p.m./ABC, ESPN or ESPN2)
After a 49-7 win at Rutgers picked up 11 first-place votes in The Associated Press Top 25 college football poll following Utah’s first loss of the season.
The Buckeyes (8-0, 4-0 Big Ten) have been No. 1 all season, but had been losing first-place votes in recent weeks. This week, Ohio State had 39 first-place votes in the poll released Sunday.
Baylor, Clemson, LSU and TCU — the rest of the top 5 — also received first-place votes, as did No. 7 Alabama.
The Bears, Horned Frogs and Tigers made the top five in both polls, but undefeated Michigan State made No. 5 in the coaches’ poll.
Utah had its highest regular-season ranking after climbing to No. 3 last week, but dropped 10 spots after losing to unranked Southern California. Florida State also dropped after its first loss of the season, falling to No. 17 in the AP poll and No. 18 in the coaches’ poll.
Notes: J.T. Barrett was named Big Ten Conference co-offensive player of the week after his 324-total yard, five-touchdown effort Saturday…Ohio State has now won 21 games in a row dating to last season, the longest active streak in the nation and 28 Big Ten regular season games in a row, also a record. The NCAA record for consecutive conference wins is 29 ACC wins by the Florida State teams from 1992-95…Head coach Urban Meyer is undefeated in games played in October (14-0) and November (12-0) during his tenure at Ohio State.