Ohio State football ranked No. 5 in preseason Amway Coaches Poll https://t.co/qIa0OpdYRz — BuckeyesWire (@BuckeyesWire) August 1, 2019

Ohio State opens the season at No. 5 in the AMWAY Coaches’ Poll Powered by USA TODAY Sports, showing that the Buckeyes are still respected as an elite program, even with the offseason turnaround.

Buckeye fans have noted throughout the offseason that certain preseason rankings–most notably ESPN’s FPI–have the Buckeyes severely underrated heading into the 2019 season. FPI has Ohio State at No. 13 to start the year, and projects the Buckeyes to win about 8.5 games. Most betting lines, in contrast, have Ohio State’s O/U win total at about 10.

FPI heavily weighs talent and past production in formulating its preseason power ratings. Ohio State is bringing in a quarterback with limited top-level experience, and has to replace one of the most successful coaches of all time. Each of those alone is cause for concern, and it is understandable why a formula would view the two of those together as a serious problem.

The voters in the AMWAY Coaches’ Poll though, have no issue at all with it. They are either willing to trust Ryan Day based on his showing in the first three games of last year, or they trust Justin Fields’ rave reviews from high school to the present–or they trust both. Either way, this shows that even without Urban Meyer or a proven quarterback at the helm, Ohio State still earns the benefit of the doubt.

That matters. Running the table for a Power 5 team will always earn a spot in the College Football Playoff, but choosing between one-loss teams can be difficult. Whether we like it or not–whether we admit it or not–the nitpicking between one-loss teams can come down to the tiniest of details. Sometimes things like SOS or quality wins are so obvious that they easily outweigh everything else (just take a look at Ohio State’s resume in 2016). Sometimes, though, it really comes down a judgment call. And–again, whether we like it or not–who gets the benefit of the doubt can be part of those judgments.

It would be easy to say that Ohio State shouldn’t be viewed as elite anymore. At least, not until Ryan Day proves himself. And maybe that happened a little bit. After all, this is the first time since 2016 that Ohio State has started ranked this low–and that was coming off the famous 31-0 drubbing by Clemson. Still, the four teams ahead of Ohio State are all serious preseason Playoff contenders. That grouping matters.

The Buckeyes clearly got more benefit of the doubt than, say, Notre Dame, which is starting the season at No. 9 after a Playoff run last year.

Little things like this matter. Obviously, each team’s play over the course of the season will have far more impact than a preseason poll — especially when the College Football Playoff Rankings rule the day now. But if the end of the year will come down to a judgment call between Ohio State and someone else, it’s good to know that the Buckeyes still get the benefit of the doubt, even without Urban Meyer or Dwayne Haskins.