Ohio State will open the 2024 season on August 31 as the second-ranked team in the nation.
The Buckeyes are ranked No. 2 behind first-ranked Georgia in the AP Top 25 preseason poll released Monday afternoon and received 15 first-place finishes for the top spot. This follows the USA Today Coaches Poll released last week in which Ohio State was ranked behind Georgia and received seven first-place finishes.
This marks the fourth time in the last eight years that Ohio State has started the season ranked No. 2, while it is the 12th consecutive year the team has been ranked in the top 10 and the 10th time since 2013 that it has been ranked in the top 5.
The Buckeyes have now extended their streak of consecutive AP preseason poll appearances to 36, a mark that is 11 years longer than the second-best streak of 25 years held by Oklahoma (2000-present).
Ohio State is one of four Big Ten teams in the AP Top 10. New conference rival Oregon comes in at No. 3 and received one first-place vote, Penn State is No. 8 and Michigan defends its national title at No. 9. Also in the top 10 are Texas at No. 4, Alabama at No. 5, Ole Miss at No. 6, Notre Dame at No. 7 and Florida State at No. 10.
The Big Ten has two more teams in the top 25, USC (No. 23) and Iowa (No. 25), giving the expanded conference a total of five AP top 25 teams to start the season. That’s the second most of any conference, behind only the SEC, which has nine teams, four of which are in the top 10.
This year’s AP Top 25 poll is dominated by the recently expanded Power Four conferences, namely the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC. The Big 12 is represented by five teams, including No. 12 Utah, No. 17 Oklahoma State, No. 18 Kansas State, No. 21 Arizona and No. 22 Kansas, while the ACC is represented by four teams, including Florida State, No. 14 Clemson, No. 19 Miami (Florida) and No. 24 NC State.
The only team outside the Power Four ranked in the top 25 is Notre Dame, which is considered an independent.
Ohio State, which will open its highly anticipated 2024 season at home against Akron in 19 days, has four ranked games on its schedule, including away games against Oregon on Oct. 12 and Penn State on Nov. 2 and home games against Iowa on Oct. 5 and Michigan on Nov. 30.
