Salutations from “Can’t Wait For Saturday,” your morning football snack, provided by veteran Illini beat writer, AP Top 25 voter, and state representative for Heisman Bob Asmussen. He’ll share his opinions with you on the game he adores every day ***. And then there were five. And among them, I am. That is the percentage of voters that kept Ohio State No. 1 on their second ballots in The Associated Pres Top 25. Compared to the 15 who had the Buckeyes atop the preseason rankings, this number is lower. The other 57 first-place votes this week went to Georgia. Totally logical, given the Bulldogs overwhelming win Saturday versus Clemson.
How good is Clemson? Hard to know for sure. I kept the Tigers in my Top 25 and expect the team to bounce back this week against Appalachian State.
Ohio State opened with a 52-6 win against Akron. No surprise, some Buckeyes fans wanted to see a wider margin.
Ryan Day’s team plays Western Michigan this week, then Marshall. Not exactly challenging, but also set up years ago. The first real test is the fifth game when Iowa visits Ohio Stadium. Followed by a trip to Oregon. Ohio State plays plenty quality opponents.
I am going to watch Ohio State closely in the coming weeks. If it wins by a lower-than-expected margin and Georgia rolls the same weekend, I will consider a switch.
For now, I am hanging with fellow voters Damien Sordelett of the News & Advance in Lynchburg, Va., Kirk Kenney of the San Diego Union-Tribune, Koki Riley of the Baton Rouge (La.) Advocate and Michael Lev of the Arizona Daily Star.
