Ohio State Buckeyes, Ryan Day End a Seven Year SEC Streak

The last time time that a non-SEC school was ranked as the No. 1 team in the preseason AP poll was the 2020 Clemson Tigers. That six-year streak ended today.

The Ohio State Buckeyes were ranked as the No. 1 team in the country according to the AP Poll. It is the first time since 2015 that the Buckeyes are at the top of the charts and the first time under Ryan Day that the Buckeyes are in the top spot.

Since the preseason poll began in 1950, Ohio State has now owned the top spot nine times: 1958, 1962, 1969, 1970, 1980, 1998, 2006, 2015, and now 2026.

The Buckeyes lead the way, followed by Oregon, Georgia, Notre Dame, and Texas to round out the top five.

The Buckeyes have National Championship aspirations after what was an incredibly disappointing end to the 2025 season. Those goals are legitimately attainable with the roster that they have.

That doesn't mean that they have the perfect team. They have been loaded in years past, but this year, there are major question marks on this roster.

This is an incomplete offensive roster with major questions about the offensive line that is 80 percent returners from last year and a wide receiving core that is a major drop-off from Jeremiah Smith to spots two through five.

On defense, they have to replace three top-11 NFL Draft picks and several other pieces at all levels. Can they do it? Absolutely, but this is an unproven team on many levels.

The vote by the AP writers underscores what the national perception is of Ryan Day. Day wins football games, and he has always done that throughout his career. However, the 2024 playoff run proved that he can win in the Playoffs. Last year, he got over the Michigan hump, so now his reign at the top of the sport is set to take center stage again.

This is also a vote of confidence in the quarterback and the best player in the entire country, Jeremiah Smith.

When you have a player of Smith's caliber, anything can happen. What America sees from Smith next year could be something that has never been seen before. If he stays healthy next year, he will be unstoppable. 

As far as the quarterback position goes, Julian Sayin has an opportunity to right all of his wrongs next year. Everything bad that happened in the postseason last year could totally go away with the strength of Ohio State's schedule.

The Buckeyes enter the 2026 season as the top team in the country. We will see soon if they can go wire to wire as the team to beat.