Ohio State’s 24-23 loss to Texas in Week 2 didn’t send the Buckeyes tumbling on my AP ballot. It dropped them one spot, and that was enough.
That decision comes down to how you view the game in Austin. If you watch it as someone who covers Ohio State every day, the frustration is obvious.
A one-point loss always stings, especially when it comes against a team that now belongs near the top of the polls. There’s plenty of time to unpack all of that.
But if you step back and look at it the way an outsider would, the picture changes. What you saw was a road game between two elite teams that traded punches and finished with a one-point margin. It’s not hard to imagine those two meeting again later.
That’s where the idea of a “quality loss” comes in, and I’m fine using it here. Ohio State and Texas have spent the last two seasons willing to play top-five matchups in the first two weeks of the season. Not many programs are doing that.
So I’m not going to hammer Ohio State just because it lost. I had the Buckeyes ranked where I had them for a reason, and Saturday night told me they belonged just one rung lower. The game looked like a showdown between two of the nation’s three best teams, played in September instead of on a neutral site in December.
I took a different approach with Oregon and Oklahoma.
My preseason No. 1, Oregon, has spent two weeks looking nothing like the team we expected.
Then came the loss to Oklahoma State, a game the Ducks trailed for most of the afternoon before falling 39-31. That final score doesn’t really capture how one-sided it felt.
Oklahoma didn’t earn much grace from me either. The Sooners looked uninspiring against Michigan, and that win feels especially flimsy when Michigan is lucky it can “officially” claim a win over Western Michigan on its resume.
Over the past two weeks, I’ve made major changes to my ballot. In Week 1, LSU’s blowout of Clemson made a statement that went beyond Clemson’s decline and said plenty about how legitimate Lane Kiffin’s first team in Baton Rouge might be. I also rewarded Ole Miss for surviving a four-quarter battle with Louisville on a neutral site.
Week 2 followed the same logic. Teams that signed up for meaningful games and played them at a high level got rewarded. Teams that didn’t looked worse for it.
That’s why Ohio State only slid one spot. A 24-23 game between two of the country’s best teams told me enough.
Both sides were evenly matched. Somebody had to win.
Somebody had to lose.
The winner just happened to be the home team that still didn’t cover.
Here’s my full ballot:
- Texas 2-0
- LSU 2-0
- Ohio State 1-1
- Miami 2-0
- Ole Miss 2-0
- Indiana 2-0
- Notre Dame 2-0
- Georgia 2-0
- USC 3-0
- Texas A&M 2-0
- BYU 2-0
- Alabama 2-0
- Iowa 2-0
- Washington 2-0
- Texas Tech 2-0
- Utah 2-0
- Tennessee 2-0
- Penn State 2-0
- SMU 2-0
- Louisville 1-1
- Houston 2-0
- Virginia 2-0
- Mississippi State 2-0
- Missouri 2-0
- Michigan 2-0
In Other News...
Ohio State Suddenly Has A CFP Scheduling Problem Fans Will Debate
The latest reminder came from Stillwater, where Oklahoma States win over Oregon set off a celebration that included students carrying a goalpost into a campus pond. Beyond the scenes of jubilation, the result fed directly into a familiar college football argument: whether powerhouse programs should keep loading up on difficult non-conference games when every loss can carry real College Football Playoff consequences.
Ohio State followers know that debate well, because the Buckeyes have long valued the kind of early-season test that can sharpen a team and energize a schedule. But when coaches such as Brent Venables, Steve Sarkisian and Dan Lanning talk about the risks and rewards of those matchups, they are really pointing to the same uncomfortable question fans keep circling. In a playoff era that can punish even a quality loss, the margin between a statement win and a season-long regret can be awfully thin. [Read more 🡒]
Ryan Day Faces Ohio State's Biggest Early Problem
A season-opening loss usually gets measured in the broad strokes, but this one left Ohio State with a much sharper lesson. After building a multi-score second-half lead against Texas, the Buckeyes let the game slip away and were left to answer for a finish that never matched the promise of the first three quarters. Ryan Day pointed to defensive issues and red zone struggles as part of the unraveling, a familiar kind of regret for a team with big expectations.
Day did not try to separate himself from the problem, saying the responsibility for the gameplan sits with him and that the Buckeyes have to improve in every phase moving forward. The early concern in Columbus is not just the loss itself, but how it happened, with Ohio State unable to close in the fourth quarter after appearing to have control. For a program built on standards, the margin for error already looks smaller than anyone wanted. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio State Faces Early Questions After Stunning Poll Drop
The early tone of Ohio States season changed fast in Austin, where a big lead slipped away and turned into a damaging loss for the top-ranked Buckeyes. What looked like a statement win against Texas instead became an opening-week reality check, the kind that can reshape how a team is viewed before September really gets going.
The fallout showed up in the latest Coaches Poll, with Texas climbing and Ohio State sliding five spots as other programs around the country also shuffled up and down the rankings. For the Buckeyes, the larger concern is less about the number beside their name and more about how quickly a game can tilt when an opponent finds momentum, which is exactly what Texas did in the fourth quarter behind Arch Manning. [Read more 🡒]