Big Me Kickoff: Top 25

Football season is less than a week away and it is less than two weeks for Ohio State fans with the season opener against Akron (3:30pm – CBS) oh-so-close to being here.

Here in the preseason, there are more than 130 teams with the dream that “this is their year” and what makes up “their year” can vary from program to program.

When you are Ohio State, we know what “this year” means, and they are goals that have been missed the past three years. Win “The Game”, win the B1G and win the national championship are Ohio State’s goals, regardless of what the team is returning or not.

When you return what the Buckeyes are returning this season and add a few key names (Jeremiah Smith, Caleb Downs, Will Howard, Seth McLaughlin) to the mix, and expectations are morphing into demands from a fanbase that has not seen its home team hoist a Big Ten Championship trophy since the 2020 season.

But what about the rest of the nation? They all have helmets and scholarships too. They are not going to yield because this is supposed to be Ohio State’s year.

We start our look to the 2024 season by rolling out our own top 25 poll.

Whenever you talk about putting together your own list, you are going to be so much different than the AP and the coaches, only to come up with your list and find out you are more similar than you wanted to be. But now is not the time to cook the books and make changes to look different.

Who has the top spot in the Big Me Kickoff Top 25? How many from the B1G make the cut? Are there any surprises on this list? Keep reading and find out.

Rank	Team
1.	Georgia
2.	Ohio State
3.	Oregon
4.	Texas
5.	Alabama

The top five teams are pretty much locked in, same as the other two major pollsters. I am not sure if I am 100-percent all-in on Georgia this year, but I would rather be remembered for having Ohio State at No. 2 and not buying the hype rather than going full go with Ohio State, only for the Buckeyes to come up short.

All things considered, No. 2 isn’t all that bad for a preseason ranking and provided that chalk occurs, we will have a No. 2 vs. No. 3 match-up in mid-October, and it could be the first of three games between Ohio State and Oregon, a series that Ohio State has owned, 9-1, despite the Ducks winning the most recent meeting at Ohio Stadium.

Texas and Alabama both round out a top five that has three SEC teams and two B1G teams.

If I felt better about Jalen Milroe as a thrower, I might have the two teams flipped but at this point I have to ride with the known quantity of Quinn Ewers and the known quantity of not knowing exactly how Kalen DeBoer is going to translate on the largest of stages.

Rank	Team
6.	Penn State
7.	Ole Miss
8.	Missouri
9.	Notre Dame
10.	MIssouri

The first place that I really deviated from the other polls is likely over ranking Penn State. I think Drew Allar is going to be better this year, but I think that the Penn State wide receiver room is going to be thinner. Former Ohio State wideout Julian Fleming is the main weapon over there and Ohio State fans have a long memory of Fleming’s body not really cooperating with him during his career at Ohio State. If Penn State can get something out of Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton, this prediction will look pretty good. But if Allar has to account for all the Penn State offense, this is going to be a bad pick in retrospect.

I have mixed feelings on Ole Miss, and that really comes down to Lane Kiffin.

Kiffin mysteriously stopped running when he was OC at Alabama in the 2014/15 Sugar Bowl, a huge aid to the Buckeyes in what would end up being one of those most pivotal Ohio State wins of the century. Kiffin is good for an upset or two but is also good for a stinker. Nick Saban is not there to be his nemesis, but until I see Kiffin get through one of those games cleanly, I just can’t do it.

I didn’t want to put Notre Dame in my top 10, I really didn’t… but here I sit.

Team	Rank
11.	Utah
12.	LSU
13.	Michigan
14.	Clemson
15.	Oklahoma
16.	Tennessee
17.	Kansas State
18.	Oklahoma State
19.	Arizona
20.	Texas A&M
21.	Miami (Fla.)
22.	USC
23.	Kansas
24.	NC State
25.	Washington

I have picked Michigan lower than most of the polls, but individual pollsters have likely done the same thing. I just don’t see the offensive talent on this team, and that is with a salute to Colston Loveland and Donovan Edwards. I just don’t see a QB on the roster that will be able to put up enough offense in the top sort of games. Plus, that NOA is coming, isn’t it?

13-19 just has the feeling that half of that list will not be there in the final poll of the season, maybe that is just more of looking at the names on the front of the uniforms, but I really don’t feel strongly about these teams, just stronger than I do about the teams behind them.

One major deviation point is that I couldn’t put Iowa in my top 25, I just can’t. That team has always had great defense and still can’t win games. Sure, Brian Ferentz is gone, but a look at the offensive roster doesn’t show much hope for a 28 ppg. average.

I went with Washington instead, which may be even more of a wild *** guess, but even without much in the way of returning starters, I am just seeing a team that might surprise a person or two.

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