Ohio State Buckeyes Land At No. 2 In One Preseason Poll

The Ohio State Buckeyes find themselves at No. 2 in Josh Pate's power ratings top 25. He recently picked the Buckeyes to win a National Championship.

Nov 18, 2023; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes linebacker Cody Simon (30) and Ohio State Buckeyes linebacker C.J. Hicks (11) celebrate a defensive stop during the first half of their game against Minnesota Golden Gophers on Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023 at Ohio Stadium. / Clare Grant/The Columbus Dispatch / USA

Not all that long ago Josh Pate, host of Late Kick Live, picked the Ohio State Buckeyes to win the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff over Quinn Ewers and the Texas Longhorns. Despite having a rather favorable opinion of the Buckeyes headed into the new season, Pate does not have the Buckeyes at the top of his power ratings.

On Monday, he posted a top 25 preseason poll on social media and the Buckeyes are No. 2 behind the Georgia Bulldogs. The Oregon Ducks, Texas Longhorns and Alabama Crimson Tide round out the rest of the top five.

The Big Ten is represented by seven teams in this top 25. Penn State is the next Big Ten team behind Ohio State and Oregon at No. 6. The Michigan Wolverines are No. 11, USC Trojans No. 20, Iowa Hawkeyes No. 22 and Wisconsin Badgers No. 24.

🚨JP POLL: PRESEASON EDITION🚨 pic.twitter.com/7Kruqbf2zM

— Josh Pate (@LateKickJosh) July 29, 2024

At the bottom of the CBS Sports graphic, there was an asterisks stating "Power Ratings Are Not Rankings" which seems to be an important part in Pate's thought process for this list. He went on to explain that this model for the ratings is all about if these teams were to face each other on a neutral field this coming season. This does not involve past winning percentages or any other factors like that.

With Georgia being the only team ahead of the Buckeyes, it is still clear that Pate has a favorable perception of the Buckeyes headed into the 2024 season. Will we get to see an Ohio State versus Georgia neutral site matchup this season in the playoffs? Matt Leinart believes so as he made his 12-team playoff prediction on Monday.

A chance for revenge against the Bulldogs would be pretty satisfying for the Buckeyes if that were to play out this season. Especially if the Bulldogs are once again considered favorites.