Ohio State Football: Buckeyes 4th in preseason polls

The Ohio State football team starts out the 2021 season ranked 4th by the Coaches Poll. They have time to change their mind and improve their ranking.

Being ranked fourth in the preseason is nothing to be ashamed of for most programs. Heck if you’re fourth at the end of the season, you’ve made the College Football Playoff. But for the Ohio State football program, they are aiming for something higher.

The Buckeyes open up ranked 4th in the Coaches Poll for the 2021 season. They are behind Alabama, Clemson and, Georgia. The Buckeyes are the highest-ranked Big Ten teams, and four other Big Ten teams are in the first poll of the season.

Alabama 100% deserves to be ranked number one. They are the defending champions. Even if they are replacing their quarterback, running back, and two best receivers, they showed that the gap between them and everyone else is still there. I have no problem with them being ranked that high.

Clemson is only ranked that high because people have seen D.J. Uiagalelei play before. No one has seen any quarterback for Ohio State throw a pass. So even though the Buckeyes throttled Clemson last season and return essentially the same offense, I understand why Clemson is ranked higher.

Georgia baffles me slightly. They played a bit of quarterback musical chairs last season. They seem to have finally settled on J.T. Daniels, but he didn’t light it up last season. Ohio State still feels like a better team than them right now before the season starts.

Of course, none of this matters. If Ohio State wins all of their games, the rankings will take care of themselves. In fact, Clemson and Georgia open up the season against each other. They will be the number one team in due time. They just have to take care of their own business and prove they are the top team in the country.

Four other Big Ten teams are in the poll. Wisconsin is 15th, IU is 17th, Iowa is 18th, and Penn State is 20th.