With three quarterbacks, star tailback Ezekiel Elliott and one of the country’s best defensive lines coming back, there’s little doubt the Buckeyes deserve to be No. 1 heading into the 2015 season.
But OSU coach Urban Meyer isn’t impressed with his team so far.
“We did not improve as a team,” Meyer told reporters after the spring game. “That was not a good team out there. We did not improve as a team. Last year, we were so young. I felt like we got better as a team because we weren’t very good, but I saw them getting better as a team.
“As a team, that’s much worse that what you saw in January, obviously. But we did get individually better.”
Meyer’s criticism aside, the Buckeyes still look better than everyone else in college football, which is why they remain No. 1 in the 2015 Way-Too-Early Top 25 now that spring has wrapped up. Joining OSU in the coveted top four — which would assure them a spot in the College Football Playoff — are TCU, Oregon and Auburn.
Way-Too-Early Top 25
In three seasons, Urban Meyer has built Ohio State into the country’s hottest program, going 38-3 overall, 24-0 in Big Ten regular-season games and winning the inaugural College Football Playoff. The scariest part: Meyer might only be getting warmed up. With multiple star quarterbacks, the country’s best tailback and a menacing defensive line, the Buckeyes are the team to beat in 2015.
After being left out of the four-team playoff last season, the Horned Frogs should have a sizable chip on their shoulders. Quarterback Trevone Boykin might be the country’s best player, and nine other starters are coming back from an offense that averaged 46.5 points in 2014. TCU has to rebuild its defense, but coach Gary Patterson’s teams always seem to get the job done on that side of the ball.
3. Oregon Ducks
How will the Ducks replace departed Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota, the school’s all-time leading passer with 10,796 passing yards and 136 total touchdowns? Perhaps they’ll look to a guy who threw for more than 10,000 yards in three seasons at an FCS school. Eastern Washington transfer Vernon Adams arrives in Eugene this summer, and he’ll have plenty of weapons around him in the Ducks’ high-flying offense. He’ll have to beat out junior Jeff Lockie, however, who went 9-of-9 for 223 yards and three touchdowns in Oregon’s spring game on Saturday.
Continue Reading: OSU No. 1, but who follows in Too-Early Top 25?
