Ohio State leaped to No. 1 in the final AP Top 25 poll of the 2024 college football season, released Tuesday morning after the Buckeyes’ 34-23 win against Notre Dame in the national championship game Monday night.
It’s the sixth time Ohio State has finished No. 1 in the AP poll. Alabama has the most AP poll championships at 12. The Buckeyes claim nine national titles overall.
After losing to Michigan and failing to reach the Big Ten title game, Ohio State was ranked No. 6 in the previous AP poll in December ahead of the first 12-team College Football Playoff. The move of five spots to No. 1 is the biggest jump from the end of the regular season to the final rankings in poll history (2014 Ohio State, 1983 Miami and 1977 Notre Dame were No. 5 heading into the postseason). The Buckeyes beat AP No. 7 Tennessee, No. 1 Oregon, No. 4 Texas and No. 5 Notre Dame en route to the title, their first since the inaugural four-team Playoff in 2014.
With wins against Indiana, Penn State, Oregon, Texas and Notre Dame, Ohio State became the first team to notch five victories against teams ranked in the AP top five at the time of the game in one season, topping four apiece by 2019 LSU and 1943 Notre Dame. It is the first team in college football history to beat four of the final top five and the first team to beat six of the final top 10. Ohio State is also the third team to lose multiple games and finish No. 1 in the AP poll, joining 2007 LSU and 1960 Minnesota.
(Jay LaPrete | AP) Ohio State head coach Ryan Day reacts to a video replay against Tennessee during the first-round of the College Football Playoff Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, in Columbus, Ohio.
The Buckeyes’ No. 1 ranking gives the Big Ten back-to-back AP titles for the first time since Minnesota (1940-41) and Ohio State (1942) finished No. 1 in three consecutive seasons. Michigan finished No. 1 in the AP poll last year, winning its first national title since 1997.
Ohio State is the fifth team to appear at No. 1 in the AP poll this season, joining Georgia, Oregon, Alabama and Texas. It’s the most teams to be ranked No. 1 in a season since there were six in 2008.
Notre Dame finished second in the poll, its highest final ranking since 1993. Oregon, Texas and Penn State round out the top five, with Georgia, Arizona State, Boise State, Tennessee and Indiana in the rest of the top 10.
BYU finished the season ranked No. 13 in the nation.
In Kalen DeBoer’s first season, No. 17 Alabama broke a streak of 16 consecutive top-10 finishes. The last time it finished outside the top 10 was Nick Saban’s debut in 2007.
Others receiving votes: Texas A&M 75, Louisville 37, Duke 29, Kansas State 9, Marshall 8, LSU 8, Florida 5, Ohio 2, Tulane 2, Baylor 2, Louisiana 1
Superlatives
• No. 5 Penn State, which lost a heartbreaker in the semifinals to Notre Dame, notched its first AP top-five finish since 2005, when it was third.
• No. 7 is Arizona State’s first top-10 finish since it was fourth in 1996.
(Steve Conner | AP) Boise State quarterback Maddux Madsen (4) throws the ball against UNLV in the first half of the Mountain West Championship NCAA college football game Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, in Boise, Idaho. Boise State won 21-7.
• At No. 8, Boise State had its best finish since it was also No. 8 in 2011.
• No. 10 Indiana finished in the top 10 for the third time ever, joining fourth-place finishes in 1967 and 1945.
• No. 12 is SMU’s best finish since it was No. 8 in 1984, before the NCAA Death Penalty.
• Iowa State finished ranked for the fourth time ever at No. 15. Its only better finish was No. 9 in 2020.
• No. 16 Illinois finished ranked for the first time since 2007, when it lost the Rose Bowl and finished 20th. It’s the Illini’s best final ranking since they were No. 12 in 2001.
Only Purdue (2003), Virginia (2004), Cal (2006) and Rutgers (2006) have longer final poll droughts among Power 4 teams.
• Miami slipped three spots to No. 18 after losing the Pop-Tarts Bowl to Iowa State, but it’s still the first time since 2004 that it finished a season as the highest-ranked team in the state of Florida.
• No. 19 is South Carolina’s best finish since it had three consecutive top-10s from 2011-13.
• At No. 20, Syracuse finished ranked for just the second time since 2001, joining a No. 15 in 2018.
• No. 21 Army finished ranked for the third time since 1958, joining 2018 (No. 19) and 1996 (No. 25).
• No. 23 UNLV finished ranked for the first time ever. There are now 26 FBS teams that have never been ranked in the final AP poll.
• Colorado hung onto a spot at No. 25 after its blowout Alamo Bowl loss to BYU. It’s only the second time the Buffaloes have finished ranked since 2002, joining a No. 17 ranking in 2016.
• Northern Illinois’ win against Notre Dame marks the first time a MAC team has beaten an opponent that went on to finish in the AP top five. Miami (OH) beat final No. 8 Northwestern in 1995 and final No. 10 LSU in 1986.
How did the preseason poll do?
Thirteen teams that were ranked in the preseason poll finished the season unranked. Florida State had the most spectacular flameout, as it started No. 10 but finished 2-10. It’s the fourth team to win fewer than three games after starting in the top 10, joining 1956 Notre Dame (2-8), 1956 Maryland (2-7-1) and 1954 Illinois (1-8).
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) BYU players celebrate with fans as Utah hosts BYU, NCAA football in Salt Lake City on Sunday, Nov. 10, 2024.
Preseason No. 12 Utah (5-7), No. 16 Oklahoma (6-7), No. 17 Oklahoma State (3-9), No. 21 Arizona (4-8), No. 22 Kansas (5-7) and No. 24 NC State (6-7) also finished with losing records.
Every team ranked No. 20-25 in the preseason poll finished unranked. Most notably, it’s the fourth consecutive season Texas A&M started the season ranked but finished outside the poll.
Joining Florida State in falling from the preseason top 10 to unranked is Michigan, which was No. 9 in August but went 8-5. Though the Wolverines finished on the upswing with upsets of Ohio State and Alabama to earn a few votes in the final rankings, they are the fifth team since the poll expanded to 25 teams in 1989 to go from winning a national title one year to finishing unranked the next. They join 2020 LSU, 2011 Auburn, 2008 LSU and 1991 Georgia Tech.
The 13 teams that finished ranked after starting outside the poll are No. 7 Arizona State, No. 8 Boise State, No. 10 Indiana, No. 12 SMU, No. 13 BYU, No. 15 Iowa State, No. 16 Illinois, No. 19 South Carolina, No. 20 Syracuse, No. 21 Army, No. 23 UNLV, No. 24 Memphis and No. 25 Colorado.
National champion Ohio State began the season at No. 2, making it the sixth national champion in the past 14 seasons to start the season ranked second. Georgia finished No. 6, making it the first preseason No. 1 to finish outside the top five since the Playoff began in 2014.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
