To the acute dismay of folks like Paul Finebaum, it's a Big Ten 1-2 atop the Week 2 AP poll, with the reigning national champion Ohio State Buckeyes jumping up two spots to take No. 1 away from the SEC's Texas Longhorns and the Penn State Nittany Lions remaining at No. 2 following their season-opening win over the Nevada Wolf Pack.
It's the top two – in that order – that most fans would have expected after the results of the Week 1, which saw Texas become the first preseason No. 1 team to lose their season opener since 1990 when they went to Columbus and fell 14-7 to the Buckeyes.
Very few Penn State fans have taken any issue with that.
The issue is why Penn State was ranked ahead of Ohio State to begin with if the winner of the Texas-Ohio State game was always going to be No. 1, literally no matter how the game unfolded and no matter what else happened throughout the country.
Texas vs. Ohio State was clearly No. 1 vs. No. 2 (not No. 3)
It's not like Ohio State played all that well. Arch Manning had a historically bad performance in his first game as Texas' full-time starting quarterback, and the Longhorns failed to capitalize on multiple golden opportunities. They practically gave the game away.
It didn't seem much different than January's Cotton Bowl, which actually featured some semblance of offensive firepower at times before Ohio State won 28-14 thanks to a late goal line stand and defensive touchdown.
Ohio State totaled 203 yards in Saturday's game, more than 130 fewer than Texas. Heisman hopeful quarterback Julian Sayin threw for only 126, and the team averaged an abysmal 2.3 yards per rush. Even the stacked Buckeye defense, led by projected top five draft pick Caleb Downs at safety, still allowed 336 yards to a scuffling Texas offense.
Yet Ohio State is now ranked No. 1, and with 55 of the 66 first-place votes (Penn State had seven). So why weren't they No. 2 over Penn State in the preseason poll if it was always going to be Ohio State or Texas on top heading into Week 2?
Penn State fans were teased with preseason ranking
We get it. The way the AP poll is set up, it's not a group decision like it is when it comes to the College Football Playoff committee. It's literally a bunch of voters whose votes are tallied, and the points are allotted accordingly to every team that gets votes. You can't plan ahead for what might happen the following week and pretend to be objective.
But Penn State realistically never had a shot to move up, when their preseason ranking implied, on paper, that they should have had exactly that if Texas lost, which they did.
Of course, a win over Nevada, no matter how impressive, won't measure up to a win against the No. 1 team in the country, no matter how ugly, any day of the week. We get that also. Ohio State is the deserving No. 1 team (for now).
But considering the fact that it was obvious that whoever won the Texas-Ohio State was going to be No. 1 all along, the AP poll teasing Penn State fans with a preseason No. 2 ranking feels a bit off.
Penn State's weak non-conference schedule revisited
All things considered, Penn State did themselves no favors with their pre-Big Ten slate. They could have beaten Nevada by 100 points and added two more 100-point victories against Florida International and Villanova, and that wouldn't look as good as what Ohio State did against Texas.
Those cupcake games only matter to the voters if they're close (a la 2024 Bowling Green). Taking care of business is expected, and doing so in these games shouldn't be implicitly rewarded. Penn State took care of business with a 46-11 victory. Good on them.
But unless they win the Big Ten Championship (and finish the season with no more than a single loss), you can totally expect that weak non-conference schedule to be the talk of the town when it comes to the strength of schedule argument used in the CFP selection buildup.
That much has already become crystal clear, even just one week into the season.
And if you listen really closely, you can probably already hear Finebaum arguing for a four-loss Alabama Crimson Tide team over Penn State for one of the final playoff spots.