Ohio State keeps its No. 1 ranking going into final bye week
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — To the surprise of no one, Ohio State is still the No. 1 ranked team in college football thanks to a dominant 34-0 win over Wisconsin on Saturday.
The Buckeyes (7-0, 4-0) enter its second and final bye week of the regular season with the top spot in both the Associated Press poll and USA Today coaches poll. Ohio State has the top spot in the coaches poll by unanimous decision. Cincinnati, which is undefeated in Big 12 play, moved up the rankings to No. 21.
Saturday's shutout win in Madison further solidified OSU's incredible talent offensively, its historically good defense that has allowed less than six points per game, and put Julian Sayin's name among the Heisman Trophy favorites.
The Scarlet & Gray now stand with five other teams (No. 2 Indiana, No. 3 Texas A&M, No. 7 Georgia Tech, No. 11 BYU, and Navy) with undefeated records. A handful of teams with unbeaten marks lost in Week 8, including Miami, Ole Miss, and Texas Tech, which all sat in the top-ten entering Saturday's games.
The upsets once again shuffled the latest rankings quite a bit.
2025 Associated Press rankings (Oct. 19, 2025)
| 1 | Ohio State (60) |
| 2 | Indiana (6) |
| 3 | Texas A&M |
| 4 | Alabama |
| 5 | Georgia |
| 6 | Oregon |
| 7 | Georgia Tech |
| 8 | Ole Miss |
| 9 | Miami |
| 10 | Vanderbilt |
| 11 | BYU |
| 12 | Notre Dame |
| 13 | Oklahoma |
| 14 | Texas Tech |
| 15 | Missouri |
| 16 | Virginia |
| 17 | Tennessee |
| 18 | South Florida |
| 19 | Louisville |
| 20 | LSU |
| 21 | Cincinnati |
| 22 | Texas |
| 23 | Illinois |
| 24 | Arizona State |
| 25 | Michigan |
The Buckeyes' new projected opponent for the College Football Playoff using this week's rankings is the winner of a first round game between No. 8 Ole Miss and No. 9 Miami in a quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl.
Ohio State will return to the field and to Ohio Stadium on Nov. 1 when it hosts struggling Penn State. The Nittany Lions will enter the contest unranked and on a four-game losing streak with interim head coach Terry Smith at the helm. Penn State has not beaten Ohio State since 2016.
With less than half of the season to go, the Buckeyes and Hoosiers are the only undefeated teams left in the Big Ten and are two of three teams with less than two losses.
Conference championship games if season ended today
- American: Navy (6-0, 4-0) vs South Florida (6-1, 3-0)
- ACC: Georgia Tech (7-0, 4-0) vs Virginia (6-1, 3-0)
- Big 12: BYU (7-0, 4-0) vs Cincinnati (6-1, 4-0)
- Big Ten: Indiana (7-0, 4-0) vs Ohio State (7-0, 4-0)
- C-USA: Jacksonville State (4-3, 3-0) vs Kennesaw State (4-2, 2-0)
- MAC: Buffalo (4-3, 3-0) vs Miami (4-3, 3-0)
- Mountain West: Boise State (5-2, 3-0) vs San Diego State (5-1, 2-0)
- SEC: Texas A&M (7-0, 4-0) vs Alabama (6-1, 4-0)
- Sun Belt: James Madison (6-1, 4-0) vs Southern Miss (5-2, 3-0)
Assuming all goes to plan, Ohio State and Indiana would meet in the Big Ten Championship Game on Dec. 6 in Indianapolis.