Should Ohio State be Ranked?

Yes, I know they will in the AP and Coaches’ Polls.

But we BlogPolles are a little smarter, right?

So before you merely move the Buckeyes down a couple of slots for losing to mighty USC, consider - how does their record stack up against some other 2-1 teams?

Their “resume”, if you will.

First let’s look at Ohio State’s record by game this year -
(FCS it the Football Championship Subdivision, the former Division I-AA)

Ohio State has -

43 point win over FCS team (Youngstown State)
12 point win over Mid-Major (Ohio)
32 point loss to BCS Conference team (USC)

Now let’s compare them to team “A”, also 2-1

24 point win over FCS team (OSU is 19 points better)
17 point win over Mid-Major (Team A is 5 points better)
2 point loss to BCS Conference team (Team A is 30 points better)

Arguably pretty similar records, with a slight edge to team A.

Team A is Ole Miss, with wins against Samford and Memphis, and a loss to Wake Forest.

Sure, Wake Forest is no USC. But Memphis is probably superior to Ohio.

Would you rank Ole Miss? I wouldn’t.

Next let’s compare Ohio State to Team “B”, another 2-1 team -

24 point win over FCS team (10 worse than OSU)
10 point win over Mid-Major (2 worse than OSU)
4 point loss to BCS Conference Team (28 points better than OSU)

Team B is the Blue Devils of Duke, with wins over James Madison and Navy, and a loss to Northwestern. Now USC is far, far better than Northwestern, but Navy is better than Ohio.

I wouldn’t rank Duke either.

Lastly we have Team “C”. Team C is also 2-1.

45 point win over FCS team (2 better than OSU)
28 point win over BCS Conference team (16 points better than OSU over Ohio, plus a higher quality division opponent)
28 point loss to BCS Conference team (4 better than USC)

On paper Team C’s record looks much better than Ohio State, with a convincing win over a BCS opponent, and a total thrashing of their FCS opponent

“C” is Baylor.

Baylor has beaten Northwestern State, and just crushed Washington State, while losing to Wake. .
Once again Wake is no USC. But you can’t argue that Baylor’s record isn't comparable, and in some cases superior to, Ohio State's.

I won’t be ranking any of the 4 teams above. I’ll be looking forward to the justifications why Ohio State should be ranked at all right now.