Ohio State Lands At No. 3 In Preseason AP Top 25 Poll
With just under three weeks to go until Ohio State kicks the season off at Indiana on Sept. 2, the Buckeyes checked in at No. 3 in the preseason AP Top 25 poll that was released Monday.
Ohio State landed at third in the poll behind No. 2 Michigan and No. 1 Georgia, the defending national champions, with Georgia and Michigan receiving two and 60 first-place votes, respectively, while the Buckeyes receive one first-place vote.
Following the Buckeyes were No. 4 Alabama and No. 5 LSU, with No. 6 USC, No. 7 Penn State, No. 8 Florida State, No. 9 Clemson and No. 10 Washington rounding out the top 10. The Buckeyes were joined in the poll by several conference members, including the Wolverines Nittany Lions in addition to No. 19 Wisconsin and No. 25 Iowa.
Teams on last season’s final poll that were not in this poll include Fresno State, Mississippi State, Pittsburgh, South Carolina, Troy and UCLA, while teams new to this poll include No. 10 Washington, No. 19 Wisconsin, No. 20 Oklahoma, No. 21 North Carolina, No. 22 Ole Miss, No. 23 Texas A&M and No. 25 Iowa. The largest drop of a team still in the poll belonged to TCU and Tulane, who each fell 15 spots, and the largest rise was by Texas, who jumped from No. 25 to No. 11 in the preseason poll.
The top five vote getters outside of the top 25 include Texas Tech (101), South Carolina (73), UCLA (66), UTSA (64) and Arkansas (22). Minnesota also receive six votes..
The full poll can be found below:
| Ranking | Team | Points (First-Place Votes) |
| No. 1 | Georgia | 1,572 (60) |
| No. 2 | Michigan | 1,490 (2) |
| No. 3 | Ohio State | 1,400 (1) |
| No. 4 | Alabama | 1,398 |
| No. 5 | LSU | 1,276 |
| No. 6 | USC | 1,245 |
| No. 7 | Penn State | 1,177 |
| No. 8 | Florida State | 1,147 |
| No. 9 | Clemson | 1,032 |
| No. 10 | Washington | 977 |
| No. 11 | Texas | 882 |
| No. 12 | Tennessee | 868 |
| No. 13 | Notre Dame | 863 |
| No. 14 | Utah | 811 |
| No. 15 | Oregon | 732 |
| No. 16 | Kansas State | 501 |
| No. 17 | TCU | 416 |
| No. 18 | Oregon State | 406 |
| No. 19 | Wisconsin | 386 |
| No. 20 | Oklahoma | 296 |
| No. 21 | North Carolina | 292 |
| No. 22 | Ole Miss | 281 |
| No. 23 | Texas A&M | 227 |
| No. 24 | Tulane | 224 |
| No. 25 | Iowa | 131 |