Ohio State Finishes Fifth in Final AP Top 25 of 2025 Season

By Dan Hope on January 20, 2026 at 2:23 pm
Ryan Day
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Ohio State is ranked fifth in the final AP poll for the 2025 season.

The Buckeyes finished behind Indiana, Miami, Ole Miss and Oregon in the final AP Top 25 of the season, which was released Tuesday following Indiana’s win over Miami in the national championship game.

Final AP Top 25 for 2025 Season
Rank Team Record Conference Points Change
1 Indiana logoINDIANA 16-0 Big Ten 1650 (66)
2 Miami (FL) logoMIAMI (FL) 13-3 ACC 1584 ▲ 8
3 Ole Miss logoOLE MISS 13-2 SEC 1492 ▲ 3
4 Oregon logoOREGON 13-2 Big Ten 1429 ▲ 1
5 Ohio State logoOHIO STATE 12-2 Big Ten 1378 ▼ 2
6 Georgia logoGEORGIA 12-2 SEC 1364 ▼ 4
7 Texas Tech logoTEXAS TECH 12-2 Big 12 1232 ▼ 3
8 Texas A&M logoTEXAS A&M 11-2 SEC 1157 ▼ 1
9 Alabama logoALABAMA 11-4 SEC 1065 ▲ 2
10 Notre Dame logoNOTRE DAME 10-2 FBS Independents 1049 ▼ 1
11 BYU logoBYU 12-2 Big 12 961 ▲ 1
12 Texas logoTEXAS 10-3 SEC 952 ▲ 2
13 Oklahoma logoOKLAHOMA 10-3 SEC 941 ▼ 5
14 Utah logoUTAH 11-2 Big 12 812 ▲ 1
15 Vanderbilt logoVANDERBILT 10-3 SEC 623 ▼ 2
16 Virginia logoVIRGINIA 11-3 ACC 603 ▲ 4
17 Iowa logoIOWA 9-4 Big Ten 430
18 Tulane logoTULANE 11-3 American Athletic 404 ▼ 1
19 James Madison logoJAMES MADISON 12-2 Sun Belt 399
20 USC logoUSC 9-4 Big Ten 378 ▼ 4
21 Michigan logoMICHIGAN 9-4 Big Ten 276 ▼ 3
22 Houston logoHOUSTON 10-3 Big 12 270
23 Navy logoNAVY 11-2 American Athletic 227 ▼ 1
24 North Texas logoNORTH TEXAS 12-2 American Athletic 191 ▼ 1
25 TCU logoTCU 9-4 Big 12 125

It’s the 11th time in the last 12 years that the Buckeyes have finished the year ranked in the top six of the final AP poll. The only exception was two years ago, when Ohio State finished 10th in the year-end AP poll after ending the year with back-to-back losses to Michigan and Missouri.

Final AP Rankings Since 2014
Year Rank
2014 #1
2015 #4
2016 #6
2017 #5
2018 #3
2019 #3
2020 #2
2021 #6
2022 #4
2023 #10
2024 #1
2025 #5

Ohio State is the only team to finish in the top 10 of the AP poll in all 12 seasons since the inaugural College Football Playoff in 2014.

Ohio State was ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25 for the entire regular season after its 14-7 win over Texas in Week 1, as the Buckeyes won all 12 of their regular-season games. They dropped to No. 3 in the AP poll, though they only fell to No. 2 in the CFP rankings, after losing to Indiana in the Big Ten Championship Game. Ohio State followed that up by losing to Miami, which climbed eight spots in the final rankings with its run to the national championship game, in the CFP quarterfinals, after receiving a first-round bye, to finish the season 12-2.

The Buckeyes finished the season ranked sixth in the Coaches Poll, with Georgia coming in one spot ahead of Ohio State on the coaches’ ballots.

Final Coaches Poll for 2025 Season
Rank Team Record Conference Points Change
1 Indiana logoINDIANA 16-0 Big Ten 1550 (62)
2 Miami (FL) logoMIAMI (FL) 13-3 ACC 1485 ▲ 8
3 Ole Miss logoOLE MISS 13-2 SEC 1400 ▲ 3
4 Oregon logoOREGON 13-2 Big Ten 1349 ▲ 1
5 Georgia logoGEORGIA 12-2 SEC 1269 ▼ 3
6 Ohio State logoOHIO STATE 12-2 Big Ten 1265 ▼ 3
7 Texas Tech logoTEXAS TECH 12-2 Big 12 1142 ▼ 3
8 Texas A&M logoTEXAS A&M 11-2 SEC 1091 ▼ 1
9 Alabama logoALABAMA 11-4 SEC 1050 ▲ 2
10 Oklahoma logoOKLAHOMA 10-3 SEC 946 ▼ 2
11 Notre Dame logoNOTRE DAME 10-2 FBS Independents 901 ▼ 2
12 BYU logoBYU 12-2 Big 12 868 ▲ 1
13 Texas logoTEXAS 10-3 SEC 840 ▲ 1
14 Utah logoUTAH 11-2 Big 12 772 ▲ 1
15 Vanderbilt logoVANDERBILT 10-3 SEC 602 ▼ 3
16 Virginia logoVIRGINIA 11-3 ACC 567 ▲ 5
17 Iowa logoIOWA 9-4 Big Ten 410 ▲ 9
18 Tulane logoTULANE 11-3 American Athletic 369
19 Houston logoHOUSTON 10-3 Big 12 349 ▲ 5
20 James Madison logoJAMES MADISON 12-2 Sun Belt 342 ▼ 1
21 USC logoUSC 9-4 Big Ten 309 ▼ 5
22 Michigan logoMICHIGAN 9-4 Big Ten 276 ▼ 5
23 Navy logoNAVY 11-2 American Athletic 164 ▲ 2
24 Georgia Tech logoGEORGIA TECH 9-4 ACC 126 ▼ 2
25 Illinois logoILLINOIS 9-4 Big Ten 123 ▲ 7
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