ESPN downgrades Ohio State football in Top 25

USA Today

08-05-2025

ESPN downgrades Ohio State football in Top 25
ESPN has released its post-spring "way too early" Top 25, and Ohio State took quite a tumble. The Buckeyes were No. 1 in the outlet's initial "way too early" Top 25, which is a pretty easy thing to do given the Buckeyes had just won the College Football Playoff.
It's a bit hard to understand exactly what changed for ESPN and author Mark Schlabach between his first ratings and now. In his intro, he describes the Buckeyes as having "lost a boatload of players to the NFL draft, along with both of its coordinators." And while it's true that both Jim Knowles and Chip Kelly left after the initial article, is that enough to explain the huge drop?
It's also certainly true that the Buckeyes lost a veritable "boatload" of players to the NFL Draft. But, with the exception of Quinshon Judkins, we knew all of those players would be leaving back on January 20th, too. And while every Buckeye fan loves Judkins and what he did for the team last year, he alone isn't the difference between being No. 1 and No. 5.
I have nothing against anyone thinking Penn State belongs at No. 1 for 2025 at this point. The team looks stacked across the board and will be very tough for anyone to beat. I can't wait to see the Nittany Lions visit Columbus on November 1st. But the change for Ohio State from No. 1 all the way to No. 5 doesn't make much sense. The defensive line is a question mark, yes, but it's not a huge issue and not something we didn't know about.
Maybe the real answer all along is that ESPN put the Buckeyes at No. 1 back in January as a knee-jerk reaction to winning the National Championship Game, not as an actual outlook for next year. The current "drop" being a correction rather than Schlabach actually changing his mind makes a lot more sense.