Ryan Day has surrounded himself with enough talented players and coaches to be considered No.1 before the season starts. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
What will the masses think of Ohio State after Saturday’s date with Ball State? Doesn’t matter too much. Ryan Day’s team will still be No. 1 heading to Texas.
Columbus, OH – The presumed No. 1 football team in the nation kicks off at half past noon on Saturday in Ohio Stadium.
Ohio State’s performance against the Ball State Cardinals will neither confirm nor reject the expectations of poll voters. The Buckeyes will win handily, and preseason questions will remain because “they haven’t played anybody yet.”
No one will know for sure until December or January if the Buckeyes are truly No. 1 in all the land.
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So why bother?
Many people ask that question. And many say polls should not be introduced until later in the season. I agree the official College Football Playoff rankings should not cover the full season. But polls that have no bearing on who gets in and are a part of the tradition.
Veteran columnist Jeff Gilbert writes the OHSAA and Ohio State sports for Press Pros Magazine.com. Follow on X @jw_gilbert
Keep them alive.
They give fans something to argue about. And they set a baseline for expectations around the country. How else would someone in Ohio know that Ole Miss could be a top 10 team again. Or that Alabama isn’t supposed to be a top 10 team. Or that Penn State is expected to be back in the top 20.
I don’t vote, but it’s all good. Because available time and time to deep dive into preseason magazines are at polar opposites in my life. There’s only so much time to devote to being a college football nerd.
But I can tell you why voters across the country hold this Ohio State team in such high regard and awarded them 40 of the 69 first-place votes.
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The No. 1 factor is winning tradition and being two years removed from winning Ryan Day’s first national championship. That doesn’t take research.
Coming in at No. 2 is the offense. Many voters might think defense wins championships, but they all are attracted to offense.
Ryan Day expects a fun offense and the deepest group of receivers he’s seen.
The Buckeyes have a Heisman finalist in Julian Sayin at quarterback. They have at wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, the player many label as the best in college football. They still won’t give him a first-place vote for the Heisman.
Day says this receiver room, minus 2026 first-round draft pick Carnell Tate, is the deepest he’s seen. He has a 1,000-yard running back named Bo Jackson, which, coincidence or not, makes him sound like the next great OSU back.
They all saw how the offensive line wasn’t ready for Indiana and Miami at the end of last season. But they’re all back, and that counts for a lot. College football players often improve at a high rate. The first thing on my list to watch for Saturday is how well they execute the run game.
Day said earlier in August that this offense will be fun to watch under the direction of new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. Left guard Luke Montgomery gave a detailed assessment of the “fun” on Wednesday after practice.
“It comes down to just a bunch of experienced players that have played a lot of time together and have built camaraderie over the years,” he said. “It’s going to be super exciting with the schemes we’re running on offense and the level of expertise and how smart we have to be to run those plays. It’s not for everyone.
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“I really don’t think other people at other colleges could run what we’re running, especially the verbiage that Julian has to hear from Coach Smith and then recall to us in the huddle. Like, it’s a lot. We’re going to be in a very explosive offense. We’re going to have a lot of fun doing that.”
If the line run blocks like OSU lines of old and sets up the passing game, yes, the Buckeyes will be explosive.
They might also be explosive on offense and in the kicking game because of freshman speedster Legend Bey. He figures to touch the ball in creative ways on offense, and he will be returning kickoffs Saturday.
Buckeyes left guard Luke Montgomery is excited to see what this year’s offense is capable of.
The defense returns only three starters – end Kenyatta Jackson, cornerback Jermaine Mathews and safety Jaylen McClain. Where have we heard that number before?
Oh, yeah, last year. All Matt Patricia did was coach up the most dominant defense in the country. Yes, those departed starters tried to take over the first round of the NFL Draft, but he’s Matt Patricia.
He will reload.
Maybe the defense will be a notch below last year, but if the offense meets projections that won’t matter. Learn the names Payton Pierce, Devin Sanchez and a bunch of guys rotating in the trenches.
Those are the short answers on why Ohio State is No. 1 now.
The short answer on why they might not stay there all season is the schedule. If you’ve looked ahead, looked at the AP poll and have been otherwise paying attention, you know this.
Based on the preseason poll, the Buckeyes play No. 2 Oregon (home), No. 5 Texas (away), No. 6 Indiana (away), No. 14 USC (away), No. 16 Michigan (home) and No. 22 Iowa (away). A 12-0 run through that gauntlet would set them up as the overwhelming playoff favorite.
A loss or two will dampen their favorite status. But, just as the Buckeyes proved in 2024, dampened enthusiasm from the outside doesn’t have to dampen enthusiasm inside the team.
A team with the experience of Day, of his former NFL coordinators and of a staff of position coaches Day has won with before, will keep the flame burning for No. 1 when it matters most.
Saturday is step No. 1. Not a big one. The first big one comes a week later at Texas. And win or lose we still won’t know the true No. 1.
That’s why this is fun.
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