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Case can be made for and against Herbstreit's No. 3 ranking of Ohio State

Buckeyes have shown no signs of weakness, unlike Clemson and Alabama
Bruce Hooley|
Case can be made for and against Herbstreit's No. 3 ranking of Ohio State
Case can be made for and against Herbstreit's No. 3 ranking of Ohio State

ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit has the Buckeyes No. 3 on his AP poll ballot this week behind Clemson (1) and Alabama (2).

Herbie has OSU in front of LSU (4), Georgia (5) and Oklahoma (6).

There are two ways to rank teams:

  1. According to where you think they will finish the season based on your assessment of eventual head-to-head matchups between those teams.
  2. Based on a personal eye test of how you think the teams are playing right now. 

Based on the first method, I wouldn't quarrel with OSU at No. 3 because of Justin Fields' inexperience relative to Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence and Alabama's Tua Tagovailoa. 

But based on what I see of the weapons around Fields and the OSU defensive performance so far, I wouldn't doubt Ohio State's ability to beat both Clemson and Alabama head-to-head the way each team is currently playing.

I say that because Alabama's defense has holes, Lawrence has been uneven so far and Fields has been spectacular, particularly since he's played turnover-free.

Clemson's schedule lacks any threat at all to the Tigers going unbeaten the remainder of the season.

In my opinion, the same can be said of OSU, chiefly because it gets Wisconsin in Ohio Stadium, as it does Michigan State and Penn State (although neither of the latter two would handle Ohio State at home).

Sure, Michigan looms at the end of the season, but the Wolverines haven't been impressive so far, and their viability as a threat to Ohio State will come more sharply into focus after this week's game in Madison.

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Bruce Hooley
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