Excuse me? The undisputed champions got downgraded to third
Why the Buckeyes dropped from #1 to #3 in the polls in a matter of days and why you should be mad about it
As most of the country and world know, the Buckeyes football team has been ranked #1 since winning the National Championship on January 12th, 2014 with all odds stacked against them.
So why is it that when the college football playoff rankings were released that this undefeated team was ranked as third?
Some may say that the football schedule for the Buckeyes is not as strong as the teams ranked above us, but wasn’t Clemson about to lose the game on November 7th up until they got it together in the fourth quarter and still only beat #19 ranked Florida State? Talk about calling the kettle black, Tigers.
In the last nine weeks of college football, the Buckeyes have remained undefeated and have overcome each of their opponents and only one of these games thus far being remotely close in score, against a previously undefeated Hoosiers of Indiana University.
Us Buckeyes get a lot of backlash it seems, but why? We have yet to lose a game since the 2014 game against Virginia Tech. Mind you, this was J.T Barrett’s first official start for the Buckeyes after Braxton Miller was forced to miss the season due to an injury.
My biggest question is why is Alabama ranked above Ohio State when they are 8-1? Remember New Years Day when we showed the SEC that they aren’t that good? Remember Ezekiel Elliott rushing 230 yards against the Crimson Tide, more than any team had yet to do against them? Because us Buckeyes will never forget those runs he made.
We have the wins, we have the talent and we certainly have the coaching staff to secure us a spot in the second College Football Playoffs, but what will it take to earn a better ranking than #3? Urban Meyer took care of the Barrett OVI situation and Cardale Jones seemed to have shown up and done his job against the Golden Gophers well enough to keep our undefeated title. It seems we have finally figured out our quarterback problem and Urban has Barrett starting yet again, pending he has a “good week in practice.”
Although last year’s performances are not taken into account when the playoff rankings are released, it says a lot about the teams and their potentials. While I believe that a ranking of #1 would be phenomenal, I do not think we would benefit from that.
Being an underdog last year seemed to have helped us to play well, but still a #2 spot feels warranted. I have no doubt the Buckeyes will have a secure spot in the College Football Playoff and honestly, another Crimson Tide match up would not be half bad.
What do you think about this #3 ranking?