Coming into each college football season, Ohio State is always at the forefront of the conversation.
And going to 2022, this is no different.
Even with talks surrounding the conference’s realignment and expansion, the Buckeyes remain the top power at the top of the Big Ten and are heading into the season opener against Notre Dame with hopes of a return to the College Football Playoff.
As the movement continues from conference to conference, such as UCLA and USC’s additions to the Big Ten in 2024, Sports Illustrated has ranked all 69 FBS teams in terms of which shows would be most coveted if conferences were forced to restart. .
And Ohio State found itself at the top of the list.
With five different categories spanning football, academics, all-sports success, football participation and broadcast viewership, Sports Illustrated named Ohio State the most desired program in college football, two points ahead of Big Ten rival Michigan.
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How did Ohio State finish in the individual rankings?
In football, Ohio State trailed Alabama in the five-year average of Sagarin’s rankings, while the Buckeyes ranked fourth in the Learfield Directors’ Cup Division 1 rankings last year, ranking performance in 19 different sports, including baseball, men’s and women’s basketball and women’s volleyball. This may interest you : What would it take to bring an indoor sports complex to Fort Smith?.
While Ohio State finished tied for 20th with Purdue in the latest US News and World Report national university rankings, the Buckeyes finished third behind Michigan and Penn State, and tied for second with Notre Dame in viewership: totaling the number of games played. football that attracted a million or more spectators in 2017-19 and 2021.
The top ten teams — Ohio State, Michigan and Wisconsin — occupy three of the top seven spots, tied for most in the top-10 with the Southeast Conference.
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This article originally appeared in The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State Football Is Most Wanted College Program
