Ryan Day’s Ohio State Didn’t Get Its Due in All-Time Best College Football Team Rankings
Ohio State owns nine national championships. The program sits among college football’s bluebloods, with a history spanning over a century. But a rankings list posted by Top Tier on X Tuesday suggests the Buckeyes don’t stack up against the sport’s greatest single-season teams. The graphic sparked immediate debate about whether Ryan Day’s Ohio State squads get overlooked when people talk about all-time greats.
Top Tier ranked the 25 best college football teams in history. Only two Ohio State squads made the list. The 2014 team landed at No. 13 after going 14-2 and winning the first College Football Playoff. The 2002 squad checked in at No. 22 with its 14-0 record and BCS championship. Indiana’s 2025 national title team grabbed the No. 2 spot overall behind 2019 LSU.
Top 25 Best College Football Teams of All-Time pic.twitter.com/y0KdqfXbzq
— Top Tier (@TopTierState) February 3, 2026
The 2014 Buckeyes beat Alabama 42-35 in the Sugar Bowl before handling Oregon 42-20 for the title. That roster featured Ezekiel Elliott, Joey Bosa, and Michael Thomas. The 2002 team went undefeated behind Craig Krenzel and Maurice Clarett, beating Miami in double overtime. Both squads won championships, yet neither cracked the all-time top 10.
Two appearances feel thin for a program with Ohio State’s track record. Recent Buckeye teams didn’t show up at all despite playoff runs and elite recruiting.
Indiana Sits Ahead of Most Buckeye Teams As Ryan Day Rebuilds Roster
The Hoosiers finished 16-0 in 2025 and won the national championship. Top Tier ranked them second all-time, ahead of teams like 2001 Miami and 2023 Michigan.
Indiana built its roster heavily through the transfer portal under Curt Cignetti. The approach worked perfectly for one season. Ohio State brought in 17 transfers this offseason, the most in program history, while also signing 28 high school players. Ryan Day addressed his roster-building philosophy on Friday’s The Ryan Day Show, explaining why the Buckeyes won’t copy Indiana’s model in its entirety.
“It can’t be a year-to-year roster at Ohio State, in my opinion,” Day said. He wants to keep recruiting high school prospects and developing them over multiple seasons, rather than reloading exclusively through the portal.
Day kept all but one starter from last year’s team, losing only Tegra Tshabola to the transfer portal. The rankings list doesn’t account for sustained success or program culture. It just measures peak performance across one season. Ohio State’s two entries prove the Buckeyes can hit that peak, but the list raises questions about whether Day’s recent teams belong in the conversation at all.
Ryan Day’s Ohio State Didn’t Get Its Due in All-Time Best College Football Team Rankings
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