Ohio State football not ranked No. 1 in Big Ten early-spring rankings

Ohio State football is coming off a national championship run, blazing through the Volunteers, undefeated Ducks, the Longhorns and the Fighting Irish.

The Buckeyes will be able to retain much of their talent, although they are losing a few major weapons to the NFL. Jeremiah Smith, who set freshman receiving records last season, will be back and should be the top weapon in the country. The question will be mainly focused on if their defense, losing two key rushers, can stay at its dominant level.

There are some concerns on this team, but the Buckeyes should still be the best in the conference. However, that’s not how USA Today’s Paul Myerberg sees it. He has the Nittany Lions atop the Big Ten in his latest rankings. Ohio State football comes in at No. 2. Here’s what he said about the Buckeyes.

“The Buckeyes could run the table and win the whole thing again, obviously. But they are down multiple skill players on offense, including quarterback Will Howard, and will need to rebuild the defensive line without several multiple-year standouts. There’s also the fact that Ohio State will have new coordinators on both sides of the ball,” Myerberg wrote. Another big-time question regarding the Buckeyes will be how they handle having two new coordinator. Matt Patricia and Brian Hartline, which the latter is certainly a familiar face, will be stepping into premier roles after Jim Knowles and Chip Kelly, who were behind-the-scenes masterminds for this team, headed elsewhere.

Who could be concerned about this team with Smith and Caleb Downs returning though? With Julian Sayin likely to be under center, all reports are that he’ll be the real deal, so that should be exciting for Buckeye faithful. That said, at the end of the day, while rankings are nice to see and breakdown, the on-field product matters, and Penn State hasn’t been able to consistently produce that against the Buckeyes.