College GameDay host names college football's best team — and it's not Ohio State

Ohio State is the near-consensus No. 1 team in the college football rankings, but one College GameDay host disagrees with the conventional wisdom.

Who is the No. 1 team in college football? | Max Gersh / The Commercial Appeal via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Ohio State secured nearly all the first-place votes to emerge once again as the No. 1 team in the college football rankings, but one College GameDay host thinks the reigning national champions might be a little overrated.

Instead, the Indiana Hoosiers should be the top-ranked team in the country, not Ohio State, according to GameDay analyst Desmond Howard.

“I think [Indiana] should be No. 1, because of their wins,” Howard said during Saturday’s edition of College GameDay. “It’s safe to say that [Ohio State] is overrated at No. 1. They probably should be No. 2.”

What does Howard base his argument on? Mostly the quality of the wins that both the Buckeyes and the Hoosiers have under their belt entering November football.

Comparing OSU's and Indiana's achievements

Ohio State did beat the preseason No. 1 team in the country in Texas in the season opener, but hasn’t played another playoff-worthy team since then in Howard’s view.

Moreover, the Longhorns haven’t been as successful as the preseason hype indicated they would be, including a midseason loss on the road against unranked Florida, and two very close wins against SEC bottom-feeders Kentucky and Mississippi State.

But the Hoosiers won on the road against Oregon, something that hasn’t been done since 2022, and by double digits, the Ducks’ first loss in Big Ten competition since joining the conference.

Moreover, Indiana has defeated two league opponents by at least 50 points, including most recently against UCLA and several weeks ago against a ranked Illinois.

“We were in Eugene. This team went down there, handled their business,” Howard said in his endorsement of Indiana as being college football’s best team.

“They left no doubt. I think those two should switch. Not greatly overrated, but slightly because I think [Indiana] should be the No. 1 team.”

What's next for these teams

Indiana has made the most of its schedule thus far, but won’t be playing another ranked team for the remainder of the regular season, and not until the Big Ten title game, which it’s strongly favored to make, likely against the Buckeyes.

Ohio State probably has one more ranked opponent in the regular season in its finale on the road against arch-rival Michigan.

Unless something strange happens, it’s likely we’ll see Ohio State and Indiana play for the Big Ten championship, and what happens there will almost certainly determine the eventual No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff.

As far as Desmond Howard is concerned, that should be the Hoosiers.