The Buckeyes remained No. 4 in the AP poll after finishing the regular season undefeated.

(Photo by Marvin Fong, The Plain Dealer)

COLUMBUS – Ohio State kicked off its postseason – which will only include fans, writers, players and coaches talking about where the Buckeyes should be ranked and a lot of what-ifs – by staying at No. 4 in the AP poll released today.

The top three remained the same, with undefeated Notre Dame followed by the two one-loss teams that will play for the SEC championship next weekend, Alabama and Georgia.

Undefeated Ohio State was No. 4 with 1,294 points. That was two more points than last week. But the Buckeyes also lost ground on No. 3 Georgia. The Buckeyes trailed the Bulldogs by 24 points last week. This week, the gap is 35 points. That's after Georgia beat unranked Georgia Tech and Ohio State beat a ranked Michigan team.

Ohio State remained No. 2 on my ballot, as the Buckeyes were last week.

There are a lot of points you could make about Ohio State and rankings at this point. I'll make as many as I can.

1. The ineligibles (Ohio State, Penn State) in the Leaders Division went 14-2 in Big Ten play. The eligibles (Wisconsin, Purdue, Indiana, Illinois) finished 9-23. That's not really a ranking point, but it is ridiculous.

2. You can make arguments either way for voting Ohio State or Georgia ahead of each other. If you think it's clear cut, you're biased.

3. As pointed out on Twitter by Stewart Mandel of SI.com, Notre Dame beat nine bowl-eligible teams, Georgia beat five and Alabama beat four. As I pointed out, Ohio State beat seven, if you count bowl-banned 8-4 Penn State.

4. One-loss Florida has the best resume in the SEC with wins over LSU, Texas A&M, Florida State and South Carolina. But Georgia beat Florida and absorbed a lot of that good will. Otherwise, Georgia's resume isn’t great. There are six good teams in the SEC. Georgia is one of them, didn't play three of them and went 1-1 against the other two.

5. Regardless, Ohio State will be No. 3 in the AP rankings next week, behind Notre Dame and the Alabama-Georgia winner, and ahead of the loser.

6. Of the 60 AP voters, 17 have Ohio State ahead of Alabama. Last week that number was 20.

7. If Ohio State was eligible for the postseason, and playing Nebraska for the Big Ten title, I still think the Buckeyes would NOT play for the BCS title. Notre Dame would still be No. 1 and I think the one-loss SEC champ still would be ranked ahead of the Buckeyes in the polls. Alabama's lead on Ohio State right now, at 106 points, is quite substantial. That is not only due to the Buckeyes being ineligible. I'm not saying it's right, but I'm saying it's the reality.

8. Some people disagree with me on that.

9. The Buckeyes were ranked between No. 2 and No. 12. Fifty-six of the 60 voters had Ohio State No. 8 or higher, then the Buckeyes had single votes for No. 9, No. 10, No. 11 and No. 12.

10. One computer ranking is out so far. The Sagarin ratings have the Buckeyes at No. 10. That's up from No. 12 last week. And that was the lowest computer rating for Ohio State last week.

11. If you want to get really imaginary, consider if the Buckeyes were eligible and this was 2014. Would you be excited for Ohio State to play the SEC champ in one national semifinal for the right to play the winner of Notre Dame vs. Florida/Oregon/Kansas State or whomever is No. 4 for the national title?

12. That just shows how the four-team playoff will be so much better than the two-team playoff.

13. There's no right answer to whether undefeated Ohio State or the one-loss SEC champ would more deserve the No. 2 ranking and a shot at Notre Dame. The only right answer is to put both in.

14. Ohio State is not going to finish No. 1 in the AP poll. But the talk about trying to get to No. 2 if they were eligible, vs. trying to get to No. 1 while they are not eligible, is a completely different world. Trying to get to No. 1 this way is more than twice as hard as trying to get to No. 2 that way.

15. Whatever it's worth, five percent of the voters in the AP poll cover Ohio State: me, Bill Rabinowitz from the Columbus Dispatch and Matt McCoy from WTVN-AM in Columbus. Votes are distributed based on how many FBS teams there are in each state, and Ohio has three voters. Rabinowitz and I have Ohio State No. 2 this week, and McCoy has the Buckeyes No. 3.