Ohio State given a lot of respect in Joel Klatt’s early 2021 college football rankings

After a disappointing loss to Alabama and finishing No. 2 in the final polls, Joel Klatt ranks his way-too-early top 10 for 2021.

The College Football Playoff national championship game is still fresh in everyone’s mind with Ohio State coming out on the wrong side of the scoreboard. Does that mean it’s too early to begin thinking about next season? If you’re a Buckeye fan… of course it isn’t.

Joel Klatt likes to give his opinion on college football and shortly after the Alabama Crimson Tide secured their nineteenth national title, Klatt shared who he thinks the top teams will be in 2021. Coming in at No. 1 on Klatt’s list? The Georgia Bulldogs (insert eye-roll here).

How about Ohio State? With an expected exodus to the NFL, the Fox Sports analyst put the Buckeyes in the No. 4 line of his admittedly “way-too-early” rankings. Sandwiched between Georgia and Ohio State are two other blue bloods with Alabama No. 2 and at No. 3 the Oklahoma Sooners.

Somewhat unexpectedly, Klatt put Tom Allen’s Indiana Hoosiers in the top ten as well. But hey, Allen has the program going in the right direction and the Hoosiers do have some key players returning to Bloomington next year.

Ohio State will most likely be breaking in a new quarterback in 2021 as Justin Fields is expected to declare for the NFL draft and there are some other big names that might need to be replaced in Chris Olave, Shaun Wade, Haskell Garrett, and possibly more.

On the bright side of things, the Buckeyes do have the current second-ranked recruiting class in the nation coming to Columbus for next season. However, it will most likely take some time before the young guns are ready to contribute in a meaningful way.

Either way, the cupboard is still pretty stocked on the banks of the Olentangy and it’s never too early to start thinking about next year.

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