COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The first preseason rankings for the 2024 college football season have been revealed, thanks to the return of a video game.
EA Sports announced the initial rankings for the upcoming College Football 25 video game with a top 25. Ohio State debuts as the game’s second-best team. The Buckeyes are alsothe highet-highest-rated Big Ten team in the game with an overall of 93. Being such puts them in the top 10 for offense, defense and overall.
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OSU comes into the year with a veteran roster, many of which put off the NFL in hopes of finally getting a win over Michigan and ending their careers with a national title. The program maximized its chances of doing so by also adding notable players in the transfer portal in quarterbacks Will Howard and Julian Sayin, running back Quinshon Judkins, offensive lineman Seth McLaughlin, tight end Will Kacmarek, safety Keenan Nelson Jr. and safety Caleb Downs who was the best player in the transfer portal this offseason.
Head coach Ryan Day also changed the coaching staff by first giving up playcalling in hopes of giving it to Bill O’Brien. But O’Brian quickly left to be Boston College’s head coach paving the way for Day to hire his former coach and mentor Chip Kelly as his new offensive coordinator. He also was forced to replace Tony Alford as running backs coach with Carlos Locklyn after Alford left for Michigan a week into spring practice.
On defense, he chose to not return Perry Eliano as safeties coach instead replacing him with Matt Guerrieri. He also fired Parker Fleming as special teams coach opting instead, making the unit a group effort amongst the coaching staff. Doing so allowed him to promote All-American James Laurinaitis from graduate assistant to full-time linebackers coach.
All of those decisions have put the Buckeyes in a position to compete for a national title viewed as one of the nation’s four best teams heading into 2024. By releasing its team rankings just weeks before the game’s release, College Football 25 becomes the first place to officially view them as such in the preseason with more rankings on the way.
Big Ten teams joining them in the top 25 include No. 3 Oregon, No. 10 Penn State, No. 11 Michigan, No. 18 Wisconsin, No. 19 USC and No. 25 Iowa.
Here’s a look at the rest of the top ten teams, their ratings and where they finished in the College Football Playoff rankings last season heading into the game’s July 19 release:
| Rank | Team | Rating | CFP Finish 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No. 1 | Georgia | 95 | No. 6 |
| No. 2 | Ohio State | 93 | No. 7 |
| No. 3 | Oregon | 93 | No. 8 |
| No. 4 | Alabama | 92 | No. 4 |
| No. 5 | Texas | 92 | No. 3 |
| No. 6 | Clemson | 90 | No. 22 |
| No. 7 | Notre Dame | 90 | No. 16 |
| No. 8 | LSU | 90 | No. 13 |
| No. 9 | Penn State | 88 | No. 10 |
| No. 10 | Utah | 88 | N/A |
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