Without head coach Urban Meyer after the university placed him on paid administrative leave Wednesday and opened an investigation into allegations that he knew of a 2015 domestic abuse incident with former assistant coach Zach Smith, the Buckeyes begin fall camp Friday ranked high in one preseason poll.
OSU enters the 2018 campaign at No. 3 in the preseason Coaches Poll, which was released Thursday afternoon and included four other Big Ten teams. Ohio State opens in third behind No. 2 Clemson and No. 1 Alabama, while No. 4 Georgia and No. 5 Oklahoma round out the top five.
No. 7 Wisconsin, No. 9 Penn State, No. 12 Michigan State and No. 14 Michigan join the Buckeyes among the five teams from the conference. Outside of the top 25, No. 30 Northwestern (67) and No. 41 Iowa (8) comprised the two Big Ten programs receiving votes.
The vote, which comes from 65 head coaches at the Football Bowl Subdivision level who are also members of the American Football Coaches Association, took place prior to Meyer’s paid administrative leave and offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Ryan Day’s assumption of acting head coach.
Among the 65 first-place votes, the Crimson Tide collected 61 while the Tigers (3) and Buckeyes (1) made up the last four.
With results from the 2017 season included, as well as point totals and first-place tallies from the vote, the entire preseason Coaches Poll is listed below.
1. Alabama (13-1) Points: 1,621 (61 first-place votes)
2. Clemson (12-2) Points: 1,547 (3)
3. Ohio State (12-2) Points: 1,458 (1)
4. Georgia (13-2) Points: 1,452
5. Oklahoma (12-2) Points: 1,288
6. Washington (10-3) Points: 1,245
7. Wisconsin (13-1) Points: 1,243
8. Miami (Fla.) (10-3) Points: 1,091
9. Penn State (11-2) Points: 1,050
10. Auburn (10-4) Points: 1,004
11. Notre Dame (10-3) Points: 892
12. Michigan State (10-3) Points: 870
13. Stanford (9-5) Points: 768
14. Michigan (8-5) Points: 752
15. Southern California (11-3) Points: 691
16. TCU (11-3) Points: 530
17. Virginia Tech (9-4) Points: 524
18. Mississippi State (9-4) Points: 407
19. Florida State (7-6) Points: 328
20. West Virginia (7-6) Points: 310
21. Texas (7-6) Points: 265
22. Boise State (11-3) Points: 261
23. Central Florida (13-0) Points: 259
24. LSU (9-4) Points: 254
25. Oklahoma State (10-3) Points: 168
Other receiving votes: South Carolina (9-4) 138; Florida (4-7) 135; Oregon (7-6) 105; Utah (7-6) 81; Northwestern (10-3) 67; Texas A&M (7-6) 67; Kansas State (8-5) 35; Florida Atlantic (11-3) 27; Boston College (7-6) 23; Memphis (10-3) 23; North Carolina State (9-4) 22; Arkansas State (7-5) 19; Troy (11-2) 19; Appalachian State (9-4) 16; San Diego State (10-3) 15; Iowa (8-5) 8; Iowa State (8-5) 8; Kentucky (7-6) 8; Washington State (9-4) 7; South Florida (10-2) 6; Duke (7-6) 5; Fresno State (10-4) 4; Louisville (8-5) 3; Arizona (7-6) 2; Houston (7-5) 2; Army (10-3) 1; Northern Illinois (8-5) 1.
