COLUMBUS – The Buckeyes failed to impress the pollsters in their season-opening win at Indiana Saturday.
After beating Indiana 20-3 in Bloomington, Ohio State fell from No. 3 to No. 4 in the coaches’ college football poll and to No. 5 in the Associated Press Top 25.
(5) Ohio State (1-0, 1-0) vs. Youngstown St. (1-0, 0-0); Ohio Stadium; Saturday, Sept. 9 (Noon/BTN)
Observers and fans expected a more dominating victory over the Hoosiers, in spite of the fact that Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day was starting new quarterback Kyle McCord, who was backed up by an even less experienced signal-caller in Devin Brown.
After the offensive line failed to open holes or protect ball carriers on multiple occasions, Day admitted that the first game of the season exposed some inconsistency in execution.
“I think what happens is, sometimes, when you get into preseason camp, and you run plays, and it goes on to the next drill or the next period, you don’t quite feel the consequences of not executing at a high level. And, that’s what happened on Saturday,” he said.
Georgia remained No. 1 and Michigan held steady at No. 2 while No. 3 Alabama moved up a spot.
Florida State cracked the top five in both polls, leapfrogging the Buckeyes into the No. 4 spot in the AP poll and taking the fifth spot in the coaches’ survey.