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2026 Week 5 Ohio State Buckeyes Rankings

Main Poll Voters

User Rank Reason
ch1l1_ch33s3 2
Doogitywoogity 2 Fine win over a flawed Illinois
eclectic_tastes 2
GenialGiant 2
justsaynotoreddit 2
MADBuc49 2 +0. Would be the #2 playoff seed in this scenario, playing the winner of #7 Florida/#10 LSU in the Rose Bowl
sirgippy 2 GippyRank expected rank: 4.4. Central 80% interval: 1–9. Top-25 probability: 99.8%.
Tarmacked 2 No change
TheZachster 2
Cecil_Hardboner 3
galacticdude7 3 Predicted Record: 11-1

Losses: @Texas (23-24)
JeromesNiece 3
JustinMSU21 3
KansasEF5Tornado 3
mcdsmaster8824 3
MrTheSpork 3
Muffinnnnnnn 3
nbingham196 3
noodlethebear 3
r0sco 3
Red261 3
redrumsoxLoL 3 The Buckeyes rolled against Illinois this weekend and allowed for receiver Jeremiah Smith to show off with 217 yards and 4 touchdowns.
RollWarTideEagle 3
romulusjsp 3
SCsprinter13 3
sickmemes48 3
smartkeg 3
Sometimeswelose 3
sroach91 3
SwissArmyScythe 3 --
texas2089 3
TimeBroken 3
52hoova 4
BananaBouquet 4
Bank_Gothic 4 Neither the states of Kent or Ball tell you much about OSU, but the win over Illinois was impressive to watch. I generally avoid ranking teams with losses high when there are still undefeated teams, but a 1-point loss on the road to the No. 1 team is about as much of a "quality loss" as a team can get. I won't hold the loss against OSU, who arguably would have beaten Texas on a neutral field.
BendrickLamar19 4
BorisNumber1 4
bwburke94 4 +16.7063572 (LW: #15)
conchobor 4
Conglossian 4 +2
dschinghiskhan 4
Euphoric_Relative_13 4
ExternalTangents 4 Overall +31.9; offense +17.1 (5th), defense -14.8 (5th)
GatorBolt 4 Business as usual Saturday.
halldaylong 4
HideNZeke 4 I question Day a little bit but they're one point away from being the number 1 team
Jakesnake42 4 Jeremiah Smith is HIM Last Week: #4
Jay_Dubbbs 4
jrich960608 4 If I had to pick a team to play Georgia in the national championship at this very moment, it would be the Buckeyes. Yes, Julian Sayin still needs to stop focusing only on Smith and needs to take another step, and yes, the defense has some holes it needs to patch, but it’s week 4, and they still flash absolute elite levels of play. Hell, they got Illinois’ DC fired after the game (or was it because they put 9 men on the field during a goal line stand? Sorry Illini fans, I had to throw that in) (no one reads this anyways JRich960608, shut up)
Luigiatl 4
malowry0124 4
monkeymatt1836 4
pileatedloon 4
SlaminSammons 4
Techwid 4
TheReformedBadger 4
TouchdownHeroes 4
VerySeriousBanana 4
xX_GIGA_MAN_Xx 4 (=)
12panther 5
a_bit_of_a_misnomer_ 5
ALStark69 5 +1; Jeremiah Smith is him
bretticus733 5
brucewaynewins 5
Buckeyes2010 5
Cassiyus 5
CharlemagneOfTheUSA 5
cinciforthewin 5
DampFrijoles 5
DarthYoda2594 5
dukemetoo 5
EpicSchwinn 5
fredmerc111 5
frone 5
fshi 5
GoBlueScrewOSU7 5
grey_pilgrim_ 5
hascogrande 5
Helifino 5
jalexjsmithj 5 Good loss, great talent. Inertia
JBonkies 5
jbowen1 5 2136.48 (+1)
jonstark19 5
KJdkaslknv 5
Laschoni 5
Longvols 5
MainPeanut25 5 #Free34
Maladroit44 5
MemeofMemeJTG999999 5 (3-1) (no change)
W: 42-19 vs Illinois (2-2)
Next Week: @ #13 Iowa (4-0)
Projected Bowl: Playoff R1 vs Boise State
nemoran 5
noahthearc 5
one98d 5
Our-Gardian-Angel 5
PlactusTX 5 LW: 6 | Tier 1 (no change) | W Illinois

Ohio State has a big prove-it chance next week vs Iowa. For now, the bottom of tier 1 isn't that bad, really.
RedBarracuda25 5
redwave2505 5
RegionalBias 5
SteemieRayVaughn 5
SufferingfOrLife 5
tdeff19 5
TheUltimate721 5 Not perfect, but you don't really need to be when you have Jeremiah Smith on your team. Not to throw cold water on them though... but is anyone else on this offense going to do something?
tomdawg0022 5
TossedRightOut 5
udderlymoovelous 5
w8w8 5
Xtremeloco 5
Acm0028 6
Aidanj927 6
BallSoHerd 6
bannista7 6
BearsAreGreat1 6
BlueSCar 6
BoukenGreen 6
budget_um 6 Making mincemeat of the B1G west, unlike some teams no longer on this list
Ch-i-ef 6 OMG hi Jeremiah Smith
ChaseTheFalcon 6
ChemicalOle 6
chillmagic420 6
CptCheese 6
deadtofall12 6
diehardcubforever 6
djowen68 6
Drexlore 6
elnino550 6 In a power ranking they would be my number one team, they have the best player in football in any position and just killed Illinois. The game next week at Iowa is very intriguing.
fourpinz8 6
grtgbln 6
Hackasizlak 6
HelioOne 6
IceColdDrPepper_Here 6
JamoRedhead 6
Jerrywelfare 6
jrluhn 6
jthomas694 6
Klaassy23 6
Lefunnymaymays4lief 6 (+1) We all know the deal with OSU at this point. Smith is a freak, Sayin is not a guy who launches downfield willy nilly but is an absolute sniper. That said if I’m a Bucks fan, I am fucking TERRIFIED seeing Iowa becoming able to run a 2 minute drill. Horrifying concept. And they’re going to Kinnick to see for themselves 🌽👁️👁️🌽
Lex_Ludorum 6
MahjongDaily 6
ManiacalBlazer 6
mthompson2320 6 LW: 6
PeteyNice 6
PSUMediaPA 6
Pure_Protein_Machine 6
retnuh101 6
RheagarTargaryen 6
royrules22 6
ruwisc 6
samspopguy 6
scronko 6
seaotter2 6
sgtshenanigans 6 First team with a loss on this list. However, Texas keeps winning so I can't punish Ohio State too much. Solid win against Illinois this week.
Shion314 6
sirvalkyerie 6
Striker743 6 Up 4 - good win, along with loss getting better
strikersteve60 6
stripes361 6
T-nawtical 6
TDenverFan 6
Texasagsman 6
The-Gothic-Castle 6
the_neverdoctor 6
TopGoose 6
True_Ad5324 6 Still good despite the lost
UNC_Samurai 6
Wescat 6
Zloggt 6
_fastball 7
AllHawkeyesGoToHell 7
Bill3ffinMurray 7
bladefencer 7 0.811, +16, Pow: 4, Off: 4, Def: 12, SOR: 25
boxbeat 7
Casaiir 7
CFBHurts 7
Corgi_Koala 7
cornholesurfer 7
Darth_Ra 7
Dropbackandpunt 7
dubscurry30 7 +6
e8odie 7
ewolfy13 7
flyingcircusdog 7
frumious88 7
jmac_21 7
JustAManAndHisLaptop 7
Justanother_0 7
laprasrules 7
PattyKane16 7
placid_salad 7 LW: #6
Player_1_has_Joined 7
Polarbear1914 7
Pyromania1983 7
Rakarei 7
roguebandit1 7
shifty1032231 7
spmartin1993 7
Staind075 7
studio_sally 7
Terminal_BAS 7
tjstanley 7
TolkienFan71 7
AJ_CC 8
Bereft13 8 Power: 2, SoR: 35; LW: 10
Blazeth 8
BuckeyeForLife95 8 (0.75+0.56) X (45/12.25) X (429/239.75) = 9.18
BUSean 8
Charlemagne42 8 Adjustment: 33.9%
chweris 8
Conn3er 8
daredassdude 8
DavoinShower-handle 8
jjjoebox 8
joebob431 8
LiptonCB 8
mellolizard 8
Noy_Telinu 8 Ughhhh, I hate putting teams with losses on, but Ohio State needs to be rewarded for playing Texas ughhhhhhh
owlalwaysloveyew 8
Pikachu1989 8
Pollaski 8
RiffRamBahZoo 8
Roscoe_Filburn 8
ryseing 8
soonerfreak 8
TaylorLeprechaun 8 +5
ThaCarter 8
titansfan174 8
WarEagle9 8
zenverak 8
AlexanderComet 9
Blooblod 9
Hugefootballfan44 9 LW: 7
StFuzzySlippers 9
tdoger 9
thomasosu 9
Zef_Apollo 9
aggiebruin27 10
blahblehblahwhoru 10
Cars-and-Coffee 10
Colton3690 10
CRedds19 10
cyberchaox 10 Eye test still says they're a good team even if the quality wins aren't there yet.
digdat0 10 10. Ohio State — Score: 0.182 | Results: 0.971, SOS Rank: #38, Quality: 0.048, Recency: 0.000 | T10W: 0, T25W: 0, T50W: 0, Off Rk: #7, Def Rk: #21
G-Aardvark 10
ikindalikelemons 10
SpadeRyker 10
spsellers 10
Xy13 10 [3-1] (42-19 W vs Illinois)
1 P4 Win
---
Got Illinois DC fired lol
Chipsahoy523 11 +2
Noelthemexican 11
olmsted 11
Versigot 11 Not too convinced by this Buckeye team yet, beating the bottom of the barrel in the Big 10 is not impressive.
DarkLegend64 12
nin478 12
NotSoSuperNerd 12 1.749 [9.13-2.87]
TheNSAAgent777 12
Tornadohunter24 12 [3-1, 1-0 B1G] (+1) | SOR: #30 | Notable Results: L 23-24 @ #1 Texas [4-0], W 42-19 vs Illinois [2-2] |

Ryan Day and the Buckeyes have done their best over the past few weeks to put that 4th Quarter collapse against Texas behind them, highlighted by a 23-point thrashing of a solid Fighting Illini squad this past weekend. They still have yet to pull off a truly marquee win, and what mostly keeps them this high up in this resume-based rankings is the acknowledgement of their close bout with the Longhorns and the best game control per ESPN in the nation. Going on the road to an Iowa squad buoyed off a last-second win presents the opportunity for the Buckeyes to leap back into the top 10 and notch a key victory for both Playoff and B1G Championship hopes.
COLU_BUS 13
corundum9 13
GeauxTri 13
RobertNeyland 13
CambodianDrywall 14
cfbguy 14
hypercube42342 14
srs_house 14
Hobbes_121 15
IAmAChemicalEngineer 15
kflinderman 15
Corporal_Hicks 16
plannedsickdays 16
SearonTrejorek 16
arbadak 17 .758 rating, 3-1, SOS .575 (NEW, +18)
jrichardh 17
realclean 17
RJEP22 17
SIMBONEGTP 17
MemeLovingLoser 18 Score 75.60 (▲ 3.34) | Place Change: ▲ 14 | Previous Rank: 32nd | Wins Composite Rank: 24th | SoS Composite Rank: 10th | Margin of Victory Rank: 4th | Penalties Composite Rank: 39th | Yardage Composite Rank: 3rd | Turnover Composite Rank: 42nd | 3rd/4th Down Conversion Rank: 35th | Other Stats Rank: 36th
0010MK 19
Chris-P-Creme 19
douchebagjack 19 Best 3 Wins: Illinois, Ball State, Kent State
Loss: Texas

Ohio State has one of the best losses in the country and that is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. Losing to Texas isn't embarrassing, obviously, but the Buckeyes haven't exactly given us a reason to think they're elite otherwise. This feels like a team that could absolutely rocket back into the top 10 once Big Ten play really gets going, but for now, you can't just give them bonus points for being Ohio State. The Texas game happened. They lost it.
ToeInDigDeep 19
AlphaH4wk 20
cvsprinter1 20 1-loss
manbeardawg 20
velociraptorfarmer 20
CPiGuy2728 21
ehoefler 21 73.86 | NEW +11
OKgolfer 21
tks231 21
visor841 21
grjohnst 23
NyquillusDillwad20 23
twitter_paulbd 23 1134 | 3-1
A_Rolling_Baneling 24
infinitempg 24 0.833
bakonydraco 25 89.005
Rcfan0902 25 568.59 (+8)

Provisional Poll Voters

User Rank Reason
IWieldTheFlameOfAnor 1 445
538allspelledout 2
chief_sitass 2
d1sportsball 2 Kept rolling against Illinois
fm22fnam 2 +1
hbh110 2
mathwrath55 2
Piptit 2
saquad69 2
shouldajustsaid_yeah 2
sportstrap 2
Yechibaby09 2
AoA_nB1 3 Did their job and got a defense coordinator fired
BeyondLiesTheWub 3 change from last week: +1
buccaneerboy22 3
Klightgrove 3
Kyrosiv 3
LonghornInNebraska 3
NoOutdoorSoup 3
Sflabuckeye13 3
tbraptors 3
thatoneguyD13 3 Tier 1.
69nicer 4
_THE__BOULDER_ 4 I don't think Illinois is bad, but I am unsure if they can be considered good yet either, as they had a close loss to Duke, who many people have as a ranked team, but the jury is still out and, judging based on this past Saturday, I don't think they can really compete with the upper echelons of CFB this year. That being said, OSU put BTA against a conference opponent, with Jeremiah Smith tying OSU's record with 4 TD catches. Other than the Texas away loss, though, I'm not certain OSU's other games are enough to keep it above UGA, so I'm going to move OSU down from 3 to 4. OSU does play Iowa this weekend, but I don't think they'll have too much of an issue here, given Iowa's offensive issues.
ArlyntheAwesome 4
CALL_ME_ISHMAEBY 4
ChiTrojan2 4
dawgfan24348 4
dee3Poh 4 .840
DillyDillySzn 4
DownshiftGD 4
EdselFordEdsel 4
FoodCourtDruid 4
geordieColt88 4
HHunko13 4
Intelligent_Fix_6972 4
irishspring4521 4
jibberishdhyukl 4
Kareem89086 4
KevinDoesSports 4 Besides Texas, they've cleaned up. They should be a top 5 school.
Lucaball3r 4
Menktenk 4
Midnight-Mustang 4
NA_Faker 4
National-Sundae9427 4
NNul 4 I believe OhSt > Ind now.
noah_divine 4
Ok_Boysenberry716 4
Perryapsis 4
Pure-Shirt-5831 4
RJTrey 4
Salmon-Dude 4
Select-Edge-3262 4
SpectralHydra 4
Star_Wars_Sith 4
TomorrowFinal6642 4
TyRoland06 4
ValarMorghulis_17 4
bigred91224 5
BoilerUp28 5
CaptainSpaceYeti 5
EL-YEO 5
Esb5415 5
Ethanol-Muffins 5
Floridamanontherun 5
gonshpreds1 5
KansasChaser2021 5
Kirkwood641 5
logace444444444 5
loneSTAR_06 5
LookAtMaxwell 5 Ohio State (3-1, Big Ten top team). Its only loss is 24-23 at Texas, so its only rule loss is to Texas. It won its other games 56-3, 59-3 and 42-19. The model rates it about as highly as Texas on scoring (73% against the top 25), which is why it's the highest-ranked team with a loss.
m3owzika 5 A close loss to a high caliber team should not dock you a ton. Their game against Iowa next week should show this team's true colors.
Milflover69cbb 5 Their only sin is losing to Texas on the road at night, they’re still top 5
MisguidedPassion 5 Slight drop because of the inconsistency week to week. Offense was phenomenal this week, but I don't know if I believe the same unit will show up next week.
MyAngelMiraidon 5 +1 - Still easily best 1 loss team. Keeping them over Bama for now with the Illinois win and Bama not having a ranked win yet
myworld3 5
NebraskaPlainsman 5
New_Prior2253 5
PersianGuitarist 5
pongislame 5 3-1 | L 23-24 @ 4 Texas
Protoco2 5
Repulsive_Rub6443 5
SaguaroCactus19 5
SignificanceFirm2398 5
spaceblev11 5
the_lost_carrot 5
TheBeekman8 5
Tortillero96 5 W (3-1) H +23 vs Illinois (unranked)
W (2-1) H +56 vs Kent State (unranked)
L (1-1) A -1 vs Texas (6)
W (1-0) H +53 vs Ball State (unranked)
Crelc3 6
DesignerClub1887 6
drewscottt 6
FindGreatness23 6
GrimmacingGrinny 6
hiiightide 6
idnttcrisis 6
Impossible-Still-349 6 (-)
Isthmus11 6 3-1, only a close loss to the best looking team in the country, smoked an Illinois team that I think will finish top half of the B10
jis024 6
JJones927 6
jwrtf 6
Key_Solution_4076 6
meristematic 6
MotherQuocer 6
NC_Pineapple 6
PsychologicalFox8660 6
Real-Plant-5722 6 They'd probably be favored against every other team in the country, which I guess would make them the best team in the country?
Rishik01 6
S2OP 6 (+1)
samtaylor92 6
Signal_Tip_7428 6
Small_Company_5697 6
Spazzatack 6
SportsCat4 6
Underground_Bread 6
WBLwiffleball 6
Yelich04 6 - (Best team in the Big Ten by a country mile it seems. Best win is over Illinois, and that's not a great win so I can't put them higher. But they look great.)
70277027 7
beckett929 7
bigian52 7
bolts_win_again 7
bruhstevenson 7
Dawg-Bite 7
divey043 7
jackmc04 7 (-1)
JackWK_Gaming 7
LightningDusty 7 =
Mission_Pay_3373 7
mr_longfellow_deeds 7
n8TLfan 7
OG_Felwinter 7
rt13wx 7
SomerandomIDFBfan 7
Tch267702 7
dstrainr 8
FuzzyDunlop911 8
jtchr33 8 Iowa game should be interesting. Revenge possibility against a solid team. I think they should have it, but it is hard to tell.
jtsmd2 8
MWiatrak2077 8
Nervous_Metal_9445 8 +0
newSomberMan 8
Ok_Significance_3803 8
ResearchFlaky5912 8 OSU looked very good against Illinois but, like Bama, has no room to reasonably move up.
S3G 8
ted1995 8
AliceisStoned 9
BlueRFR3100 9
DarthGlazer 9 if OSU can beat iowa next week like i think they will they'll be the number 4 team likely.
Hastronaut 9
JKess207 9
msonar623 9
666PeaceKeepaGirl 10
Flaky_Bit6733 11
isrealball 11
josh55134 11
ogsmurf826 11
penix4heisman 11
_Junk_Rat_ 12
Blazemaster77 12
kevinsdomain 12
owl-bears 13
Yamiosum 13
grahamca 15 T24ᵗʰ W/L, T16ᵗʰ Predicted Wins, 6ᵗʰ Team Strength, 11ᵗʰ Quality of Wins
manbeqrpig 16
quantum_jedi 16 (43.21, +6) Solid win for the Buckeyes over a floundering Illini squad. Huge game next week with a road trip to Iowa.
solarsnail6 16
thehornedlamb 16
GenuineBoss 17
Noahsince2002 17
Rhizical 20
g_trechel 25
Blue = Human
Red = Computer
Green = Hybrid

Bold = before the AP poll was published
Normal = after the AP poll was published

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