Rece Davis ranks SEC team over Ohio State at No. 1 in AP top 25 vote

Ohio State was the No. 1 team in the AP top 25 college football rankings this week, but not everyone agreed, including ESPN College GameDay host Rece Davis.

College GameDay host Rece Davis was among those who kept Ohio State from the No. 1 place in the AP top 25 rankings this week. | GREG SWIERCZ / USA TODAY NETWORK

Ohio State predictably debuted as the No. 1 team again in the AP top 25 college football rankings coming out of the weekend, but not everyone thought so.

Of the 66 voters who cast a ballot in the Associated Press rankings this week, 55 of them, or 85 percent of them, stuck with the Buckeyes as the top team in the country.

One of those 10 who didn’t was ESPN College GameDay host Rece Davis, who revealed LSU as the No. 1 team in his ballot coming out of Saturday’s action.

Ohio State wasn’t far behind LSU, though, coming in second place in Davis’ vote, ahead of Miami in third, Georgia at four, and Oregon at No. 5 nationally.

Arguments for putting LSU ahead of Ohio State would likely center around the quality of LSU’s victories compared to the Buckeyes’ wins up to date.

Granted, Ohio State owns a statement win over then-No. 1 Texas, but its other two games came against lower-quality competition like Grambling and Ohio, with its performance in the latter game not quite as dominant as most expected.

LSU’s wins came against then-No. 4 Clemson, at home against Louisiana Tech, and then a victory in the SEC opener against rival Florida.

The perceived quality of LSU’s first win may have lost some of its luster after Clemson needed to come back against Troy and then lost to Georgia Tech this week, falling out of the AP rankings completely at 1-2.

LSU’s defense dominated against the Gators, intercepting quarterback DJ Lagway five times and holding the offense to 10 points.

Still, the lion’s share of AP voters have not seen enough to dislodge the Buckeyes from the No. 1 spot they put them in after the Texas victory.

Nor indeed to budge Penn State from the No. 2 position despite what critics have argued were lackluster offensive showings in wins over Nevada and FIU before a more impressive showing against Villanova.

A total of 36 voters agreed with the idea of putting the Tigers ahead of the Nittany Lions this week.

LSU earned 29 votes as the third-best team in college football in this week’s AP poll, and seven additional votes in the No. 2 position on other ballots.

More: AP top 25 college football rankings for Week 4

Miami received three first-place votes in this week’s rankings, as David Jablonski of the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News, Javon Edmonds of the Syracuse Post-Standard, and Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News believe the Hurricanes to be college football’s gold standard.

All #APTop25 week 4 ballots: pic.twitter.com/e4EGDgNzS8

— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) September 14, 2025

The new ACC title favorite owns a three-point win over then top 10 ranked Notre Dame, a rout against Bethune-Cookman, and an impressive 49-12 victory over then-ranked USF, which was 2-0 with wins against AP ranked teams the two weeks prior.

Davis wasn’t alone in his decision: Pat Welter of WRAL-TV also voted LSU as the best team in the country, ranking Miami second in his ballot, and Ohio State in third place ahead of No. 4 Penn State and Georgia rounding out the top five.

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