College football Top 25: Ohio State aims to go back-to-back with a new QB and a revamped defense

Yahoo

2 days ago

College football officially begins this month.
Now that it's August, there are less than three weeks until Kansas State and Iowa State meet in Dublin to begin the 2025 regular season. And since the season is quickly approaching, we're rolling out our preseason Top 25.
Next up in our rankings is the No. 6 team, and the rest will be revealed in the coming days. (All odds are from BetMGM.)
Previously: Nos. 11 through 25, No. 10 Miami, No. 9 Alabama, No. 8 Notre Dame, No. 7 LSU
No. 6 Ohio State
2024 record: 14-2
National championship odds: +525
Odds to make College Football Playoff: -325
2024 in 100 words
The 2024 season went from nightmarish to incredible in the span of four playoff games. The Buckeyes never fell out of the top five of the AP poll all season but lost 32-31 at Oregon and — far more importantly — lost 13-10 at home to Michigan in the final week of the regular season. That rivalry loss seemed to expose the flaws in Ohio State's offense and pushed the Buckeyes out of the Big Ten title game.
It also dropped Ryan Day to 1-4 against Michigan after a fourth straight defeat to the Wolverines. And by the way, it was the biggest upset in the history of the rivalry; Ohio State was a 20.5-point favorite.
But the sentiments of the season changed once the College Football Playoff began. Ohio State handily beat Tennessee, blew out Oregon, beat Texas and then comfortably handled Notre Dame for the school's first national title since the 2014 season.
The quarterback
Julian Sayin
The former Alabama signee should step in for Will Howard after spending the 2024 season as the No. 3 QB behind Will Howard and Devin Brown. Howard is now with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Brown, who appeared in nine games, is at Cal.
Sayin hasn't officially won the QB competition just yet. He's competing with Lincoln Kienholz for the starting job, but we think Sayin will be the one taking the first snap of the season against Texas on Aug. 30.
'They've been throwing with the wide receivers,' Day said of both quarterbacks at Big Ten media day. 'I ask those guys all the time and they like both of them. We're going to put them in as many competitive situations as we possibly can to figure out who handles that the best.'
'We've got to be on point Week 1. We can't be messing around. I know that we'll need all of those guys in that room this year. When you look at Will, he was a guy who was an older guy, who was experienced, and he was able to sustain the entire season. That's not always the way it is.'
Howard's addition to the QB room ahead of the 2024 season was telling. It was a clear sign that Day and the coaching staff weren't comfortable with the young options they had after Kyle McCord transferred at the end of the 2023 season and no one impressed in the bowl game in McCord's absence.
Ohio State made no such move ahead of the 2025 season. Sayin transferred to Ohio State in January of 2024 after Nick Saban's retirement. The former five-star recruit was the No. 2 QB in the country and the top prospect in the state of California when he signed with the Crimson Tide.
Non-QB to watch
RB CJ Donaldson
The former West Virginia running back arrives after rushing for more than 700 yards in each of the last two seasons with the Mountaineers. He had 171 carries for 798 yards and 11 scores in 2023 and backed that performance up with 163 carries for 734 yards and 11 TDs in 2024.
Donaldson will likely share duties with James Peoples and others in the Ohio State backfield. You have to go back to J.K. Dobbins in 2019 — Day's first season as head coach — to find an Ohio State running back with more than 200 carries in a single season. And last year's timeshare worked out pretty well. Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson each rushed for over 1,000 yards and were second-round picks in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Best position group
Wide receiver
We had to mention Jeremiah Smith sooner rather than later. The top non-QB favorite for the Heisman Trophy is the best wide receiver in college football. He was fantastic as a freshman in 2024 with 76 catches for 1,315 yards and 15 TDs. He can easily improve on those numbers in 2025.
Emeka Egbuka is gone but this is a receiver group that simply reloads year after year. Carnell Tate had 52 catches for 733 yards in 2024 and Brandon Inniss could step into a bigger role. True freshman Quincy Porter could also play a big role right away. The five-star recruit was the No. 3 receiver in the country when he signed with the Buckeyes and Ohio State also added three other four-star wide receivers in the class of 2025.
Tight end Max Klare isn't officially a wide receiver, but he could end up being Sayin's No. 2 target by the end of the season. The Purdue transfer had 51 catches for 685 yards and four scores in 2024. No other Purdue player had more than 25 catches last season as the Boilermakers scuffled to 1-11.
Biggest game
Nov. 29 at Michigan
It can't be any other game at this point, right? The Week 1 showdown with Texas is huge. An Oct. 11 game at Illinois is intriguing given the Illini's returning talent and its playoff hopes. And Penn State's visit on Nov. 1 will be a massive contest.
But Day's four-game losing streak against the Wolverines makes this road game the most important. The national title solidified his status as Ohio State's coach for the foreseeable future. But you don't need Ohio State fans to tell you how vital it is to beat Michigan. The Buckeyes had beaten Michigan eight straight times before the Wolverines won in 2021. A fifth win in a row for the Wolverines would tie Michigan's longest win streak in the series since UM won six straight games from 1922 through 1927.
Why Ohio State is No. 6
The offense should still be very good no matter who wins the starting quarterback competition. Ohio State has averaged at least 30 points and six yards per play in every season of Day's tenure. The transition from Chip Kelly to Brian Hartline at offensive coordinator should be smooth.
The biggest questions come on defense, where the unit will be led by a new coordinator and needs to replace a ton of talent. Defensive coordinator Jim Knowles left to take the same position at Penn State — where he's the highest-paid defensive assistant in college football — and former Lions head coach Matt Patricia is the new coordinator. It's Patricia's first job in college football since he was a graduate assistant at Syracuse from 2001 to 2003.
All-American defensive back Caleb Downs and linebacker Sonny Styles are back on that side of the ball, but the only other returning starter is Davison Igbinosun. Can Texas exploit all the turnover in Week 1?
That defensive transition is a big reason why we think Ohio State could miss the Big Ten title game for a second season in a row. The Buckeyes should still be a playoff team and will be favored at home against the Nittany Lions. But a new quarterback and so many new faces on the defensive side of the ball have us in wait-and-see mode regarding OSU's chances of going back-to-back.