5. Ohio State Buckeyes
Knocking off Clemson in the College Football Playoff semifinal was certainly a seminal moment in Ryan Day’s young tenure at the helm of Ohio State but, for a program that measures success in trophies, the Buckeyes came up short against Alabama with the title on the line. The task now becomes not just staying at the level they were at last year but trying to make more headway.
When you look at the strengths of the roster coming into 2021, they aren’t hard to find. Chris Olave’s return to play with Garrett Wilson, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Julian Fleming and the best wide receiver room in the nation is the starting point. Moreover, the trenches on both sides of the ball figure to be among the best respective units in college football.
Ohio State comes in at No. 5, though, because there are just more questions at key areas than with the top four teams in the preseason college football rankings. C.J. Stroud had a strong recruiting pedigree but can he come in with virtually no experience and replace Justin Fields? Moreover, is a secondary that, although talented, struggled mightily against top competition last season going to be better?
The answer to those two questions will determine just how good the Buckeyes are this year. Ohio State remains one of the premier teams in the country but the lack of certainty in increasingly pivotal areas puts them just a notch below some of their peers.