UC doesn’t deserve higher ranking than Buckeyes
By Doug Harris, Staff Writer Updated 12:30 AM Thursday, October 8, 2009
Until the Ohio State football team beats a top-5 foe — that surely will happen again in our lifetimes, won’t it? — the national perception about the program isn’t about to change.
The consensus is that the Buckeyes are overrated, that their four straight Big Ten titles have come when the league has been at perhaps an all-time low and that even their 7-1 record against Michigan under Jim Tressel isn’t a major achievement because part of it was built while their rival was in a coaching transition.
But even the Mark Mays of the world would have to agree OSU has a right to be peeved over its treatment in The Associated Press poll after suddenly getting passed by Cincinnati this week.
The Bearcats, who seem to have caught lightning in a bottle in the hiring of coach Brian Kelly, just may be better than the Buckeyes. But I don’t see the rationale for bumping them from 10th to eighth on the basis of a 37-13 victory over winless and woeful Miami. OSU, meanwhile, remained ninth after a 33-14 triumph at Indiana, which had a 3-1 record and nearly upset Michigan in the Big House.
If OSU isn’t going to be rewarded for doing what it was supposed to do, which is beating a weak team handily, then the same rules should apply to UC. But AP voters seem intent on keeping the Buckeyes in the bottom portion of the top 10 — no matter how many suspect teams they need to toss in ahead of them.
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