Ohio State isn’t one of the two or three best college football teams in the country. At least, they haven’t actually played like it for the majority of the season.
Putting all my Buckeye Bias aside – and it certainly isn’t the fault of the team – but Ohio State has benefited through its ninth game in 2015 from its accomplishments in the 2014 season and preseason expectations. They haven’t really done much to earn a top-3 ranking. Similar to the advantage that Florida State was able to enjoy throughout the entire 2014 regular season, a defending champion with a lot of returning talent is given the benefit of the doubt regarding their schedule and outcomes of games.