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(For a slightly different perspective, see Mike Racey's article)

Ohio State University (I refuse to use "The" in front of the name) was one of the best teams in the country last year, but that doesn’t mean that they will be this year.

Ohio State has an easy schedule through the early part of the year, but that doesn’t mean that it is as good as its record will show.

That leads me to two points: the mighty Buckeyes are overrated, and polls are based on projected wins and losses rather than best teams.

First off, how can a team that loses a Heisman winning quarterback, a starting running back and both starting receivers be ranked so high? I could see if they could lean on one facet of the offense to lead the way, but I am not about to use either Wells as a total focal point of the offense.

When you look at the name and the opponents faced to start the season, you know why they are picked this high. Before a date in Happy Valley (ninth game of the year), the hardest game they will play by far is at Purdue. While I think that will be a loss, most experts consider that a win, and ultimately a better ranking.

Either way you look at it, Ohio State will be off to a good start and it will look like the Buckeyes will be deserving of their ranking. However, give them Auburn’s schedule (ranked No. 18) and they have three losses through eight games (at Florida, at Arkansas at LSU).

In my mind, there is no way that Auburn isn’t as good as OSU, yet it is seven spots lower, due more than likely to a tougher schedule.

Being an SEC fan, some of you are probably thinking that I am being biased, but I say look at the stats.

Four SEC coaches have won championships, to the Big 10’s three, but the biggest discrepancy is that the 2007 recruiting class had seven of the top 10 teams coming from the SEC, while the Big 10 has zero, according to rivals.com. Last year there were four SEC teams in the top 10 to one from the Big 10.

That shows how much greater the talent level is in the south, which is why the teams need to be ranked higher. The Big 10 has three teams in the preseason top 11 because they don’t have to play any of those ultra-talented teams, so they will look better than they are.

Nothing showed this more than in the two big bowl games, where the Big 10 got smoked by far superior and more talented teams in USC and Florida.

Ohio State would be ranked 20^th if they played in the SEC, so shouldn’t they be ranked there anyway? You can’t truly tell me that they are one of the 11 best teams in the country. The same can be said about the two Big East teams that are ranked in the top 10. West Virginia and Louisville shouldn’t even be sniffing the top 10, but neither team plays hard non-conference games and Louisville caught a break by getting Wake Forest in the BCS game. Sure, it played Miami the past couple of years, but how good has Miami been?

The biggest example of looking at the schedule in the preseason was when West Virginia was preseason top 10 in 2004. Despite the easy schedule, the Mountaineers still lost three games, showing that they were not even close to a top 10 team.

With voting such a big part in college football, voters need to rank the 25 best teams overall rather than ranking them based on their skill and their opponents.

Tags: ohio state football, sec football