Final AP Ranking: 20
It's mid-May and that can only mean one thing: the cavalcade of preview magazines are just around the corner. Athlon is already in gear, releasing one ranked team a day through June 1. Today, the Buckeyes were slotted 12th. Lil' Animal and Malcom Jenkins were both picked as 1st team defensive all-Americans, with several other Buckeyes getting preseason all-conference nods.
Much like recruiting and the NFL draft, these predictions are an educated guess at the very best, but it was reassuring in the wake of the Florida debacle to read these notes they had about the program (emphasis mine):
» In his six years since taking the Ohio State job, Jim Tressel has coached the Buckeyes to six bowl games, four BCS bids and two 19-game winning streaks.
» Tressel is 5–1 against Michigan.
Stassen has an archive of preseason predictions for all you stat hounds.
