The Ohio State Buckeyes are the defending champions. Until further notice, they're on top of the college football world. They did lose plenty of talent, but the holdovers, transfers, and recruits are more than enough to put them firmly in the conversation for the nation's best team.
The Coaches Poll disagreed, ranking them second. That's not a huge surprise given how good the number one Texas Longhorns are. But now the first AP Poll has dropped, and it also has Texas first. And this time, Ohio State isn't even second.
They're third, somehow ranked behind a team that lost to the team OSU beat in the title game. Penn State earned the number two seed in the first AP Poll ahead of the regular season. That's a bit of a surprise, although being ranked third after losing so much talent in one offseason is still a big win.
There's an easy path to number one, though. Ohio State gets to host Texas in Week 1. Win, and the Buckeyes probably leapfrog Penn State to the top seed. It'd be hard to argue against them being the best team in the country if that were to happen, though it will be a hugely difficult matchup.