Ohio State was ranked as the third-best team in the country for the 2025 season by eight voters in the Coaches Poll, but an in-state coach ranked the Buckeyes 10th while another coach left Ohio State off his ballot entirely.
While Ohio State didn’t receive any first- or second-place votes in the end-of-season Coaches Poll after losing its final two games of the season to Indiana and Miami (Florida), eight coaches ranked the Buckeyes as the third-best team in the country on their final ballots, which were made public by USA TODAY on Wednesday. Coaches who ranked the Buckeyes third included two Ohio State alumni (Luke Fickell and Alex Golesh) and three coaches who were in the Big Ten for at least part of last season (Fickell, James Franklin and Matt Rhule).
More than half of the 62 coaches who had ballots for this year’s Coaches Poll ranked Ohio State as a top-five team, as four coaches ranked the Buckeyes fourth while 22 coaches – including Ryan Day – ranked the Buckeyes fifth. Day’s top seven mirrored the top seven of the AP Top 25, as he ranked his own team behind the four teams that advanced further than Ohio State in the College Football Playoff: Indiana, Miami, Ole Miss and Oregon.
| RANK | TEAM | RANK | TEAM | RANK | TEAM | RANK | TEAM | RANK | TEAM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | INDIANA | 6 | GEORGIA | 11 | BRIGHAM YOUNG | 16 | IOWA | 21 | HOUSTON |
| 2 | MIAMI (FLA.) | 7 | TEXAS TECH | 12 | NOTRE DAME | 17 | VANDERBILT | 22 | GEORGIA TECH |
| 3 | MISSISSIPPI | 8 | ALABAMA | 13 | TEXAS | 18 | USC | 23 | MICHIGAN |
| 4 | OREGON | 9 | OKLAHOMA | 14 | UTAH | 19 | ARIZONA | 24 | ILLINOIS |
| 5 | OHIO STATE | 10 | TEXAS A&M | 15 | VIRGINIA | 20 | TULANE | 25 | NORTH TEXAS |
Despite being ranked in the top five by a majority of coaches, however, Ohio State finished sixth in the final Coaches Poll behind Georgia, in part due to two extreme outliers.
Most responsible for Ohio State finishing out the top five was Delaware’s Ryan Carty, who left Ohio State off of his final ballot entirely. Delaware assistant athletic director Ed LeFurge III told the Columbus Dispatch that Carty’s omission was an “error,” not an intentional snub of the Buckeyes.
That said, Fickell left Georgia off of his ballot – presumably also by accident – which effectively canceled out Carty’s omission in terms of where the Bulldogs ranked in comparison to the Buckeyes.
A more intentional slight seemingly came from Miami (Ohio)’s Chuck Martin, who ranked Ohio State 10th. Martin not only put the Buckeyes behind Indiana, Miami, Mississippi, Georgia and Oregon, but also ranked Texas A&M, Alabama, Notre Dame and Oklahoma above the team two hours northeast of Oxford.
Georgia, on the other hand, wasn’t ranked lower than seventh on any ballot except Fickell’s. Just two coaches ranked Georgia seventh (Texas Tech’s Joey McGuire and Pittsburgh’s Pat Narduzzi) while five coaches ranked Ohio State seventh (Syracuse’s Fran Brown, Florida Atlantic’s Zach Kittley, Tulsa’s Tre Lamb, Tulane’s Jon Sumrall, Western Michigan’s Lance Taylor).
Georgia also received one second-place vote (the only team other than the Miami Hurricanes to receive a second-place vote, as Indiana received every first-place vote), as Air Force’s Troy Calhoun ranked Georgia second, Ohio State third and Oregon fourth with Miami fifth.
Georgia received only one third-place vote, from UConn’s Jim Mora, but was ranked above Ohio State on 34 out of 62 ballots, resulting in the Bulldogs finishing four points ahead of the Buckeyes in the final rankings.
| Rank | Team | Record | Conference | Points | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
 INDIANA
|
16-0 | Big Ten | 1550 (62) | – |
| 2 |
 MIAMI (FL)
|
13-3 | ACC | 1485 | ▲ 8 |
| 3 |
 OLE MISS
|
13-2 | SEC | 1400 | ▲ 3 |
| 4 |
 OREGON
|
13-2 | Big Ten | 1349 | ▲ 1 |
| 5 |
 GEORGIA
|
12-2 | SEC | 1269 | ▼ 3 |
| 6 |
 OHIO STATE
|
12-2 | Big Ten | 1265 | ▼ 3 |
| 7 |
 TEXAS TECH
|
12-2 | Big 12 | 1142 | ▼ 3 |
| 8 |
 TEXAS A&M
|
11-2 | SEC | 1091 | ▼ 1 |
| 9 |
 ALABAMA
|
11-4 | SEC | 1050 | ▲ 2 |
| 10 |
 OKLAHOMA
|
10-3 | SEC | 946 | ▼ 2 |
| 11 |
 NOTRE DAME
|
10-2 | FBS Independents | 901 | ▼ 2 |
| 12 |
 BYU
|
12-2 | Big 12 | 868 | ▲ 1 |
| 13 |
 TEXAS
|
10-3 | SEC | 840 | ▲ 1 |
| 14 |
 UTAH
|
11-2 | Big 12 | 772 | ▲ 1 |
| 15 |
 VANDERBILT
|
10-3 | SEC | 602 | ▼ 3 |
| 16 |
 VIRGINIA
|
11-3 | ACC | 567 | ▲ 5 |
| 17 |
 IOWA
|
9-4 | Big Ten | 410 | ▲ 9 |
| 18 |
 TULANE
|
11-3 | American Athletic | 369 | – |
| 19 |
 HOUSTON
|
10-3 | Big 12 | 349 | ▲ 5 |
| 20 |
 JAMES MADISON
|
12-2 | Sun Belt | 342 | ▼ 1 |
| 21 |
 USC
|
9-4 | Big Ten | 309 | ▼ 5 |
| 22 |
 MICHIGAN
|
9-4 | Big Ten | 276 | ▼ 5 |
| 23 |
 NAVY
|
11-2 | American Athletic | 164 | ▲ 2 |
| 24 |
 GEORGIA TECH
|
9-4 | ACC | 126 | ▼ 2 |
| 25 |
 ILLINOIS
|
9-4 | Big Ten | 123 | ▲ 7 |
The full roundup of where all 62 Coaches Poll voters ranked Ohio State on their final ballots can be found below. (Note: Coaches are listed by the teams they coached during the 2025 season even if they have changed jobs for the 2026 season.)
3rd (8 coaches)
Troy Calhoun, Air Force
Spencer Danielson, Boise State
Manny Diaz, Duke
Luke Fickell, Wisconsin
James Franklin, Penn State
Willie Fritz, Houston
Alex Golesh, South Florida
Matt Rhule, Nebraska
4th (4 coaches)
Jamey Chadwell, Liberty
Brent Key, Georgia Tech
Pat Narduzzi, Pittsburgh
Willie Simmons, Florida International
5th (22 coaches)
David Braun, Northwestern
Jeff Brohm, Louisville
Jason Candle, Toledo
Curt Cignetti, Indiana
Chris Creighton, Eastern Michigan
Ryan Day, Ohio State
Kalen DeBoer, Alabama
Dave Doeren, North Carolina State
Jason Eck, New Mexico
Jedd Fisch, Washington
Thomas Hammock, Northern Illinois
Dan Lanning, Oregon
Rhett Lashlee, SMU
Lance Leipold, Kansas
Pete Lembo, Buffalo
Joey McGuire, Texas Tech
Jeff Monken, Army
Jim Mora, Connecticut
Brian Newberry, Navy
Ken Niumatalolo, San Jose State
Rich Rodriguez, West Virginia
Jay Sawvel, Wyoming
6th (21 coaches)
Tim Albin, Charlotte
Dave Aranda, Baylor
Bob Chesney, James Madison
Eliah Drinkwitz, Missouri
Sonny Dykes, TCU
Mike Elko, Texas A&M
Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame
Blake Harrell, East Carolina
Tyson Helton, Western Kentucky
Charles Huff, Southern Mississippi
GJ Kinne, Texas State
Clark Lea, Vanderbilt
Sean Lewis, San Diego State
Mike Locksley, Maryland
Bronco Mendenhall, Utah State
Eric Morris, North Texas
Gerad Parker, Troy
Kirby Smart, Georgia
Mark Stoops, Kentucky
Jeff Traylor, Texas-San Antonio
Scotty Walden, Texas-El Paso
7th (5 coaches)
Fran Brown, Syracuse
Zach Kittley, Florida Atlantic
Tre Lamb, Tulsa
Jon Sumrall, Tulane
Lance Taylor, Western Michigan
10th (1 coach)
Chuck Martin, Miami (Ohio)
Not Ranked (1 coach)
Ryan Carty, Delaware
