Ryan Day's Ohio State not predicted to go back to back by CFB insider in way too early rankings

Ohio State coach Ryan Day led the Buckeyes to a national title after beating Notre Dame 34-23 in the national championship game on Monday. The Buckeyes swaggered through the college football playoffs beating four top-10 ranked AP teams including the Tennessee Volunteers, Oregon Ducks, Texas Longhorns and finally, the Fighting Irish.

During Thursday's segment of the "Joel Klatt Show," analyst Joel Klatt released his way too early rankings for the 2025 college football season and surprisingly dropped the newly-crowned national champions to third.

“The national champs will look a lot different next year, there’s no doubt," Klatt said. "But they’re still going to be an elite team, and they’ve still got two players specifically that I think could be the two best players on each side of the ball in the sport. … Hard to take a huge step back when you’ve got the best player in the sport on each side of the ball.”

In his rankings, Klatt ranked coach James Franklin's Penn State Nittany Lions at No. 1 due to returning a huge part of their 2024 class led by quarterback Drew Allar and running back Kaytron Allen. Behind them are coach Steve Sarkisian's Texas Longhorns who reached the Cotton Bowl Classic and will feature Arch Manning under center.

During his national championship game postgame news conference, talented wide receiver Jeremiah Smith already implied that the Ohio State Buckeyes were looking to win back-to-back national championships. According to BetMGM, the Buckeyes are favorites to win the 2025 national championship (+450) ahead of the Georgia Bulldogs and Texas Longhorns (+650).

"Feeling good, feeling good," Jeremiah Smith said. "Got that first one. Trying to get three more...two more."

Ryan Day's Ohio State will lose stars to the NFL

Ohio State will lose several stars to the NFL via the 2025 Draft including quarterback Will Howard, wide receiver Emeka Egbuka and running back TreVeyon Henderson among others accounting for the reigning national champions not being outright favorites for next season's title.

Coach Ryan Day will still retain a lot of talent including All-American safety Caleb Downs and explosive wide receiver Jeremiah Smith which will make the Buckeyes a dangerous prospect next season.

Whether or not Ohio State retains the national championship next season, Ryan Day has gotten over the hump of near misses that have hounded his team in the past few years and returned the Buckeyes to the top of the pile in college football.