The exodus of talent from Urban Meyer's Ohio State football program set a slew of NFL Draft records this spring, but the three-time national champion still has the Buckeyes in position to compete at a high level this fall.
Just ask those who put out way-too-early top-25 college football polls that help us get through the offseason.
Media outlets release a list of who they think will be at the top of the sport the next season shortly after the national championship game, with fans salivating on where their favorite team falls in line with the landscape. The issue with that is it is largely unknown who will elect to leave early for the NFL or transfer to another school. And, national signing day sits just around the corner.
Fox Sports' Stewart Mandel released an updated version to his top-25 for 2016 Monday, a "post-spring practice" edition, if you will. (ESPN's Mark Schlabach did the same Tuesday). He has Ohio State ranked No. 9, trailing Alabama, Florida State, Clemson, LSU, Michigan, TCU, Oklahoma and Tennessee.
Seeing a few of those teams above Ohio State will likely surprise the fanbase, but it is hard to look past the number of starters the Buckeyes lose from 2015 and amount of unproven commodities that sit on the roster.
Anyways, below is a roundup of where Ohio State falls according to national media pundits and when each outlet published the rankings.
| OUTLET | FOX (5/9) | ESPN (5/10) | SI (1/19) | CBS (1/12) | Sporting News (4/25) | Athlon (1/12) | Yahoo! (1/12) | USA TODAY (1/12) | B/R (2/3) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OHIO STATE RANKING | 9 | 10 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 12 | 6 | 11 |
As you can see, only FOX, ESPN, Sporting News and Bleacher Report took National Signing Day into consideration with their respective rankings. Sports Illustrated, CBS, Athlon Sports, Yahoo! and USA Today have not yet. The numbers average out to a combined ranking of 7.2, if you're into that sort of thing.
For fun, here is where each outlet has Jim Harbaugh's Michigan Wolverines.
| OUTLET | FOX (5/9) | ESPN (5/10) | SI (1/19) | CBS (1/12) | Sporting News (4/25) | Athlon (1/12) | Yahoo! (1/12) | USA TODAY (1/12) | B/R (2/3) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MICHIGAN RANKING | 5 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
Those rankings average out to 5.1, so it is evident the majority of writers in these polls like Michigan in its second year under Harbaugh.
Plenty of can change with these ratings and likely will once the outlets put out new marks taking the NFL Draft and signing day into consideration.
It is reasonable to keep Ohio State in the top-10 based on Meyer's track record in Columbus — I mean the guy only lost four times in his first four seasons. However, the question marks are everywhere, with fewer than 10 starters back in the fold from the 2015 squad.
It is interesting how many of these outlets (5-of-9) put Michigan ahead of Ohio State, though, considering the Wolverines have a quarterback situation to iron out while J.T. Barrett is the guy in Columbus. Harbaugh signed his second crop of players in February, but he still is three years behind Meyer, who beat him 42-13 in their first encounter last November.
The SEC, to no surprise, had schools littered across the top half of the rankings. Reigning champion Alabama is deservedly in the top spot of the majority of the polls, while national runner-up Clemson doesn't fall far behind with early Heisman Trophy favorite quarterback Deshaun Watson back under center.
I have Ohio State ranked seventh, behind Alabama, Clemson, Florida State, LSU, Oklahoma and TCU. A tough schedule with a trip to Norman, Oklahoma, early will tell us a lot about the 2016 version of the Buckeyes and give a peek into what we can expect when they travel to Wisconsin, Penn State in back-to-back weekends and then Michigan State in November.
But remember: Ohio State's last four recruiting classes all rank in the top-7 nationally according to 247Sports.
