The first AP Poll is finally here. The arrival of college football’s first ranking means one thing: our wait is nearly over. Ohio State enters the 2025 season as the reigning national champions and will have to prove that losing 14 NFL Draft picks is not as detrimental as it would seem. Embroiled in a quarterback battle yet again, Ryan Day’s squad enters the 2025 season ranked third, just behind Texas and Penn State.
Ohio State and the AP Poll go together as frequently and as naturally as peanut butter and jelly. According to Winsipedia, this will be the Buckeyes’ 1,000th time appearing in the AP Top 25, the most in all of college football. It is also the 58th consecutive season Ohio State has appeared in the poll. This year’s preseason ranking marks the fourth time in program history that Ohio State kicks off the season ranked third.
Ohio State Starts the 2025 Season Ranked Behind Week 1 Foe
In 1951, fresh off a disappointing 6-3 campaign that marked the end of the Wesley Fesler era, Woody Hayes’s first year with the program began the season ranked third. There were some growing pains, and the Buckeyes finished the year unranked after falling to Michigan State, Indiana, and Michigan with ties to Illinois and Wisconsin.
Two decades later, Hayes’s team started as the third-ranked team after another disappointing season. Ohio State’s 1972 season is one of many “what ifs” in program history. The Buckeyes were co-Big Ten champions with only one loss to Michigan State and were invited to the Rose Bowl. Ohio State fell to USC, 42-17, crowning the Trojans as the lone national champion. If the Buckeyes had won, they would’ve argued to claim the title. Instead, they finished ninth in the polls.
The most recent occasion was just two years ago in 2023. Day had to replace several playmakers fresh off that disappointing one-point loss in the CFP semifinals to Georgia. Speaking of “what ifs,” what if Ohio State didn’t squander multiple two-score leads against Georgia and instead played TCU in the title game? Regardless, the 2023 season was built up all year before a 30-24 loss to Michigan and an ugly Cotton Bowl loss to Missouri ruined it all. Day’s squad finished the year generously ranked 10th.
Onto 2025
Ohio State will open the 2025 season at home against the top-ranked Longhorns in the first-ever Week 1 matchup between the top two teams in the AP Poll. Time will tell if Day’s “attacking, not defending” approach to reloading results in the program’s first back-to-back national titles. With the 12-team College Football Playoff, Ohio State is likely in a great position to have the opportunity to repeat as champions, barring a nuclear meltdown in the regular season. It all begins in 19 days at the historic Horseshoe.
Main Photo: Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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