Buckeyes Plummet in Week 10 AP Poll After Beatdown Against Oregon

The Ohio State Buckeyes had a disaster of a Saturday night inside the Horseshoe as they were beaten and beaten handily by the Oregon Ducks. It was a complete and total disaster from the second quarter to the end of the game.

They were equal parts outplayed and outcoached in a game that will mark the end of their postseason playoff hopes.

We all knew that was going to be the reality after this game, but now we will all begin to see the fallout of that on Sunday and in the days to come. The first domino to fall came on Sunday when the Week 10 AP Poll was released, and the Buckeyes got their verdict. 

In their first ranking as a three-loss team, the Ohio State Buckeyes fell all the way down to No. 21 in the country, one spot behind South Carolina and one spot ahead of Arizona. 

This, unfortunately, is probably right where the Buckeyes belong. They are not a good football team, and they are not playing well at all. For the first time in a really long time, they lack any elite-level players on their team not named Jeremiah Smith. The days when the Buckeyes get off the bus and are the better team once they walk onto the field are gone.

When that is the case, coaching comes into play, and at least for this year, the Buckeyes' staff has been getting dominated by opposing staffs. 

They were outdueled by Steve Sarkisian, Lincoln Riley, and Dan Lanning. It has been a tough realization that the staff that we all believe to be really great coaches has been struggling mightily over the past couple of weeks.

The issue now is that as Ohio State looks at the remainder of the schedule, they don't have any quality opponents left that can help them up the rankings. They have games against Northwestern, Nebraska, and Michigan to end the season. Those are three teams that are simply not very good.

Ohio State should win all three of those games, but even if they do, that resume is not going to be enough to get them back up and into a conversation as one of the 12 best teams in the country to make the Playoffs.

It's become an incredibly disappointing season for the Ohio State Buckeyes and it is not even close to over yet. All they have left to play for is a little bit of pride and that's all that's on the line.