COLUMBUS – For the first time since before the college football season began, Ohio State is not at the top of the Associated Press Top 25 poll.
The Buckeyes (9-0, 5-0 Big Ten) remained No. 1 in the coaches’ poll after beating Minnesota 28-14 Saturday night in a game that head coach Urban Meyer described as offensively “sloppy,” but he saw the bright side.
“Best thing about 9-0? A chance to go 10-0 with a good bunch of people,” he said afterwards.
CORRECTION: The OSU Athletics Department announced that Meyer’s 47-3 record in his first 50 games at Ohio State was the best first-50-game record for a Bowl Subdivision coach, but corrected their release Sunday to include Fielding Yost’s 49-0-1 mark in his first 50 games at Michigan between 1901-05 and Gil Dobie’s 48-0-2 at the University of Washington from 1908-15.
Ohio State was ranked No. 3 in the first College Football Playoff rankings released last Tuesday and are not likely to move up or down in this week’s rankings.
Clemson, second in the coaches’ poll, is the new No. 1 team in the AP poll after a 23-13 win over Florida State on Saturday clinched a trip to the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game. The Tigers are top-ranked in the AP media poll for the first time since the final poll of the 1981 season, when they won their only AP national title.
Ohio State has been No. 1 since the preseason, but has played like a team deserving of the top-ranking only on and off against a schedule that was far from daunting.
Support for the Buckeyes has been dwindling but voters had not found one team it could rally around until the Tigers beat Florida State. Although undefeated, OSU reached November with nothing that looks like a truly impressive victory against a high-quality opponent. Clemson’s home wins against Notre Dame and Florida State are better than anything on the Buckeyes’ resume.
Ohio State next travels to Illinois (Noon/ABC) while Clemson travels to Syracuse before returning to Death Valley to host Wake Forest.
For the Buckeyes, the toughest games on their schedule remain: Nov. 21 against Michigan State and Nov. 28 in Ann Arbor. The Spartans plummeted in the polls, out of the top 10, after losing to Nebraska while Michigan held onto its No. 15 spots after beating Rutgers handily.
The Big Ten can boast six teams in the Top 25, most of any conference, with Iowa, Northwestern and Wisconsin also ranked.
Alabama (8-1) climbed to No. 3 in the AP poll, fourth in coaches’ poll, after knocking off previously unbeaten LSU while Baylor was fourth and third, respectively. Undefeated Oklahoma State was No. 5 in both polls