All Seven Big Ten Ballots Put Ohio State At No. 1 In Coaches Poll

With the final edition of the Amway Coaches Poll being released this past Sunday, Ohio State finished No. 2 behind LSU and receiving 14 of the 65 first place votes.

USA Today published each of the coaches individual ballots at the link here, and these are some of the highlights from it:

– Ryan Day had Ohio State at No. 1, followed by LSU, Clemson and Oklahoma at No. 2, 3 and 4, respectively.

Day’s ballot from there was mostly similar to the eventual top 25, except for his decision to leave Utah at No. 6 and Oregon at No. 10. Oregon defeated the Utes 37-15 to win the Pac-12 title, and are flipped in the actual coaches poll (Oregon at No. 6, Utah at No. 10)

– Day is one of seven Big Ten coaches who has a vote in the coaches poll: Rutgers’ former head coach Chris Ash, Purdue head coach Jeff Brohm, Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio, Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald, Penn State head coach James Franklin and Nebraska head coach Scott Frost are the others.

All seven Big Ten coaches named Ohio State the No. 1 team in the NCAA. The other seven coaches from across the country to put the Buckeyes at the top are Wyoming’s Dana Dimel, North Carolina State’s Dave Doernen, Northern Illinois’ Thomas Hammock, Buffalo’s Lance Leipold, Bowling Green’s Scot Loeffler, Fresno State’s Jeff Tedford and Utah’s Kyle Wittingham.

– Miami (Ohio) head coach Chuck Martin is the only coach this season to play the Buckeyes and not have them at the top spot in the country. He has Ohio State at No. 2, behind LSU despite his RedHawks falling to the Buckeyes 76-5, the largest margin from any team Ohio State played this season.

– Twelve coaches picked Ohio State at No. 3 in the poll, including Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney, who put his Tigers at No. 1, with LSU at No. 2 and Oklahoma at No. 4.

– LSU head coach Ed Orgeron also had a ballot, and had the same top four as the playoff: LSU, then Ohio State, Clemson and Oklahoma. Sooners head coach Lincoln Riley does not have a vote in the coaches poll.

– Of the 65 ballots, each ballot had Ohio State with four ranked wins: Penn State, Michigan and Wisconsin twice. From there, 55 had Cincinnati ranked and three had either Indiana or Florida Atlantic in their top 25.

No ballot gave the Buckeyes more than six ranked victories.

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