Where do pundits have Ohio State pegged for next year’s playoff race?

As the last pieces of confetti were falling from the sky inside Lucas Oil Stadium after Monday’s College Football Playoff national championship game, the various national websites and newspapers were already filing their Way-Too-Early look at who will contend for the national title in 2022.

And, as expected, Ohio State – with the record-setting pitch-and-catch tandem of quarterback C.J. Stroud and wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba coming back – was at or near the top of almost every one of those early top 25 surveys.

Below, we look at each of these prominent websites and newspapers for their early guess on 2022 for the Buckeyes and the other top contenders.

It is normal for these type of lists to begin with the same contenders that were in the running in the season that just concluded. But it is also important to recognize that 2021 was a huge season of change for the college football landscape.

Accordingly, Georgia won the school’s first national championship in 41 years. Michigan and Cincinnati qualified for the CFB Playoff for the first time. And there were three first-time winners in New Years’ Six bowls as Oklahoma State won the Fiesta Bowl, Baylor took the Sugar Bowl and Pittsburgh won the Peach Bowl.

We will look at the lists for 2022 provided this week by 247Sports.com, USA Today, The Sporting News, ESPN.com, SI.com, CBSSports.com, Yahoo! Sports, NCAA.com, Saturday Blitz and The Athletic.

Obviously, the fortunes of some of these teams could change as underclassmen continue to declare for the 2022 NFL Draft. The declaration deadline is Monday.

Alabama, led by returning Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young, is the No. 1 team on all 10 of the lists published below. Ohio State is No. 2 on eight of the lists and No. 3 on the other two.

After those two, the rest of the consensus top 10 would be: 3. Georgia, 4. Texas A&M, 5. Notre Dame, 6. Clemson, 7. Michigan, 8. Utah, 9. Oklahoma, 10. Baylor.

Among Big Ten teams, Michigan State had an average ranking of 13th, Iowa was 17th, Wisconsin 19th and Penn State 21st. In 2022, Ohio State will play home games against Notre Dame, Michigan, Iowa and Wisconsin and road games at Michigan State and Penn State. (Click here for OSU’s revised schedule.)

Below is a look at what 10 of the leading websites see with the college football championship chase for 2022: