The Ohio State Buckeyes and their NCAA Preseason Ranking

One third of the BCS ranking is out as USA Today released its College Football Coaches Poll. No surprise to anyone that sitting on top of the polls is Florida followed by Texas, Oklahoma and Southern Cal. What comes as a bit of a surprise is that the Buckeyes are ranked #6.

By Pete Quint

Surprise, you ask? Well, yes as Ohio State loses all of its starting offensive skill positions, most of its veteran offensive line and almost the entire linebacking corps. On paper, those kind of losses take time to restock the talent pool but that’s not the way this poll sees it.

Always Considered One of the Best

That’s a deep respect that Ohio State has earned since Jim Tressel has taken over. The Buckeyes now command a “Notre Dame” like aura that affords then an opportunity to always be considered one of the best in the country no matter the loss of talent. Buckeye haters will stew about the fact that the Buckeyes are ranked so high but if you read through the rest of the polls, who’s better? You can make a decent case for Penn State, LSU and maybe even Mississippi but outside those teams there just isn’t anyone.

Season Breakdown

Now that the first poll that counts is out in the open we can now really start looking at OSU’s opponents. The first game to come to mind is obviously the showdown between #4 USC and #6 OSU. The hype surrounding this game will continue to steamroll the closer we get to Sept 12. Penn State will be another epic game also and will be at a fevered pitch the evening of Nov. 07. We will get to see young Terrell Pryor under the lights and under incredible pressure in a hostile environment. Iowa also becomes an interesting test just before the match-up with That Team Up North. Kirk Ferentz has a reputation of getting together are really tough team every four to five years and he’s due. Iowa has a relatively soft schedule and should meet the Buckeyes in Columbus with less than two losses.