If you hadn’t noticed 2 years ago when the teams met and OSU won the talent gap was closed, and since then OSU and AL have been the big winners in the Recruiting battles. This year’s Buckeye squad is one of youngest in the country with another top class coming in next year. Secondly, OSU is more battle tested at this point in the season by having competed against more higher ranked teams than AL.
Alabama beat more teams that had been ranked. The difficulty was that SEC teams fall in the rankings as they beat each other. I think very few people would say that OSU has as much talent as Alabama this year. BUT, Alabama lacks a real QB, and OSU’s is excellent. Alabama can be beaten if the rest of the team doesn’t bring its A game because Hurts just hasn’t had time to develop. I know why Washington and Clemson are in the top 4, but I don’t think either team could beat Michigan, and maybe not even PSU given the way PSU has been playing the last few weeks.