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College football fans may like to think the people tasked with voting in the polls that rank the best teams in the country are informed and unbiased individuals, but that isn’t necessarily reflected in real life—a reality Lou Holtz seemingly confirmed with the ballot he submitted after getting called out by Ohio State head coach Ryan Day.
Day and Holtz treated us to one of the more unexpected beefs of the current campaign in the wake of the game between Ohio State and Notre Dame, as the man who led the Buckeyes to a 17-14 victory in South Bend took aim at the former Fighting Irish skipper for doubting his squad on ESPN prior to the contest.
For what it’s worth, Holtz didn’t seem to have any regrets about those comments and essentially doubled down when he suggested Ohio State doesn’t have what it takes to take on the best teams in the country while using the nail-biting nature of their showdown with Notre Dame to try to bolster that claim.
The Buckeyes didn’t have the chance to directly address Holtz’s belief over the weekend, as the team had the week off as they gear up to head to Maryland on October 7th in a game where they’ll be sitting at No. 4 in the AP Top 25.
While Holtz doesn’t have a say in those rankings, he does have a vote in the weekly “Super 16” poll that’s conducted by the Football Writers Association of America and the National Football Foundation.
As The Columbus Dispatch notes, Holtz listed Ohio State at No. 4 in the FWAA-NFF poll following their win over Notre Dame. While they ended up in the same spot on the overall list this week, Holtz apparently decided the nonexistent effort they showed by virtue of not having a game scheduled was enough to move them down five spots to No. 9.
Interestingly enough, the fourth spot on Holtz’s list is now home to Oregon, although the Ducks also had a bye week and previously occupied the spot where Ohio State ended up.
As a result, it seems Holtz either has a vendetta against Day and the Buckeyes or possibly confused two teams who feature a giant “O” as their logo— and neither of those theories is a great look for the man behind the ballot.