The Ohio State Buckeyes remain the No. 1 team in the country after a one-sided 42-3 beatdown of the Minnesota Golden Gophers at the "Shoe" on Saturday. Still, their resume is being called into question in light of other Week 6 results.
The Texas Longhorns' 29-21 loss to the Florida Gators takes the shine away from their highest-ranked win. The Washington Huskies nearly lost to the Maryland Terrapins and had to overcome a 20-0 third-quarter deficit to pull it off in College Park. Minnesota had already lost to the Cal Golden Bears by two touchdowns before being obliterated by the Buckeyes.
The Athletic's Ralph D. Russo believes OSU's resume doesn't compare to the Miami Hurricanes', which features wins over the Gators, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Florida State Seminoles, and USF Bulls.
"Ohio State jumped to No. 1 after beating Texas to start the season. That’s not looking quite as great right now after Florida handed the Longhorns a second loss. If we’re ranking resumes, Miami’s victories against Notre Dame, USF, Florida and Florida State definitely look better than Ohio State’s against Texas, Washington and Minnesota," Russo wrote.
"The problem is that the games are televised. Watching Ohio State be so dominant, with its latest array of talented freaks, it was hard for me to make the switch from the Buckeyes to the Hurricanes at No. 1."
ESPN's Heather Dinich came to a similar conclusion: that Miami has had a more impressive run thus far. Dinich steered wrong by believing the Buckeyes should be moved down to No. 2 despite dominating every game they've played, except for Texas. That was an opinion driven by the ACC's partnership with ESPN.
And that's okay. Polls and rankings don't matter right now. If they did, the Longhorns, Penn State Nittany Lions, and Clemson Tigers wouldn't be unranked after being named the preseason No. 1, No. 2, and No. 4 teams.
Anyone watching the games knows that OSU would probably beat any team in the country right now. At least on a home or neutral field. Maybe on any field.