OSU failed to maintain its natty status. In a recent poll conducted by the official CFP account on social media platforms, asking fans which is the best CFB team in the playoff era, the Buckeyes lost to the SEC. In an attempt to find out the “ultimate champion,” Ryan Day’s and Urban Meyer’s Ohio State natty teams were humbled by the fans.

Sunday’s updated CFP bracket clearly featured fan voting favoring the 2018 Alabama team with 58%, while the 2015 OSU team secured 42%. To make matters worse, the 2025 OSU team received 43% of the fan votes, while the 2023 Georgia team got 57%. It means 2015 OSU lost to 2018 Alabama, while 2025 OSU lost to 2023 Georgia.

Kirby Smart’s Georgia defeated Ryan Day’s Ohio State with 39,974 total votes. On the flip side, Nick Saban’s Alabama defeated Urban Meyer’s Ohio State with 23,580 total votes. So basically, Saban’s 2018 team is considered better than Urban Meyer’s 2015 team, and Kirby’s 2023 team is better than Day’s 2025 team to fans.

Although the semifinal polls are still left to be conducted, both the OSU teams’ eliminations only signal that the Buckeyes might not deserve the recognition. Here’s a glimpse of those seasons’ performance to clarify the reasons behind fans’ support.

In 2015, despite an early-season loss to Virginia Tech and losing two starting QBs to injury, the Buckeyes secured their spot in the playoff with a dominant 59–0 win over Wisconsin in the Big Ten title game under Meyer. In the national title game, they defeated Oregon 42–20, with third-string QB Cardale Jones leading the team through the postseason.

Meanwhile, in 2018, the Tide finished with a 13–1 record and won the national title, despite a late-season loss to Auburn that kept them out of the SEC Championship game under Saban. They went on to defeat Clemson and Georgia to claim the title. In defeating Georgia 26–23 in an overtime thriller, true freshman QB Tua Tagovailoa replaced Jalen Hurts at halftime and threw the game-winning “2nd-and-26” TD pass to DeVonta Smith.

So both 2015 OSU and 2018 Alabama had their own kind of brilliance to show, but the Tide gets more fan support for their recognition, showing Saban has set a new standard. Across all the platforms where voting was happening, the Twitter poll alone received more than 1,000 votes.

Then, in 2025, the Buckeyes won their first national title since 2015 by navigating the inaugural 12-team CFP, defeating Notre Dame 34–23. Despite losing to Michigan for a fourth straight year, they became the lowest-seeded team and the first with two losses to win the ultimate crown of the CFB. Meanwhile, Kirby Smart’s Georgia achieved a historic 15–0 record, winning the SEC Championship and becoming the first team in the CFP era to repeat as national champions in 2023.

The Bulldogs concluded their perfect season with a 65–7 dominant victory over TCU, the largest margin of victory in any bowl game’s history. There could be many factors that tempt fans to vote more for Georgia over OSU. It’s a poll to find out who the fans think is the GOAT team, and here Meyer’s and Day’s teams were not deemed worthy of that.

But what about Ryan Day’s upcoming season? Will he achieve the same success as in 2025 or not?

In 2026, Ryan Day’s chance to win the ultimate crown

For years, OSU has lived comfortably among CFB’s elite, but in 2026, the narrative around the program has shifted. Oddsmakers are no longer placing the Buckeyes among the sport’s top championship favorites, instead projecting a 9.5-win season that trails teams like Oregon and puts them on a similar level to Notre Dame.

For Ryan Day, that drop in confidence carries a larger implication. But what makes the skepticism surprising is the Buckeyes’ remarkable track record. Over the past two decades, OSU has produced 18 seasons with at least 10 wins. Despite that, only rare setbacks, such as the 6-7 campaign in 2011 under interim coach Luke Fickell. Even during unusual circumstances, including the shortened 2020 season, the program maintained its reputation.

That history is precisely why some analysts see the current projections as a surprising dip. To cap it off, this upcoming season, Ohio State faces one of the toughest schedules in the nation.

They have road trips to USC, Texas, and Indiana, while home showdowns against Oregon and Michigan promise little margin for error. Here’s where CBS Sports’ Cody Nagel noted that OSU hasn’t lost more than two games in a season since 2011, but if there were ever a year for that streak to be threatened, this might be it.

Now we will see whether Ryan Day’s OSU rises above the doubts or confidence continues to crumble.