Ohio State picks up more first place votes, closes gap on Alabama and Georgia in USA TODAY Coaches Poll

Ohio State picks up even more first-place votes this week and continues to close the gap. Should the gap already be closed completely is the real question?

A little at a time I guess.

The Ohio State football team seems to continue to be penalized by looking like a work in progress during Week 1 vs. Notre Dame. Since then, though, the Buckeyes have continued to look like what we thought they would on offense, with the defense continuing to be much more productive and aggressive than what we saw last season.

After the last impressive win over Rutgers, Ohio State still remained at No. 3 in the USA TODAY Sport AFCA Coaches Poll, but picked up some more first-place votes and has closed the gap on both Alabama (1) and Georgia (2), who have flipped spots this week.

Both SEC schools have also looked suspect in one or two games this year but seem to not be under the same scrutiny since it happened later in the season. But whatever, it really doesn’t matter anyway because the College Football Playoff rankings are all that mean anything and those don’t come out for a few weeks yet.

Here’s how the top ten of the latest USA TODAY Coaches Poll looks after Week 5, with the complete poll following.