Surprising no one, Ohio State wound up on top of the Associated Press' final top-25 ranking for the 2014-2015 college football season.

But what may be of more interest is the top four and how it differs from the inaugural College Football Playoff (CFP). Rounding out the final poll's top four was Oregon (2), TCU (3) and Alabama (4), followed by Michigan State and Florida State in a tie for fifth.

Ohio State was ranked fifth in the week 16 edition of the AP poll, but dropped as low as 23 in week four before making their ascent. Losing Braxton Miller, a preseason Heisman favorite at quarterback, to injury was devastating. Their week two loss to Virginia Tech only made matters worse.

From there on out, Ohio State did not lose a game. They survived a double-overtime upset scare against Penn State on Oct. 25, took down Michigan State in East Lansing two weeks later and crushed Wisconsin 59-0 for the Big Ten Title with their third-string quarterback.

Still, the CFP committee had them behind TCU, who was named a Big 12 co-champ after beating Iowa State to conclude their season. Then the committee put Ohio State in the CFP Final Four and left TCU out and the Buckeyes validated that decision in a major way, stunning the top-ranked Tide and then the Heisman winner.

"Late August, around camp, everybody counted us out when our Heisman Trophy quarterback went down, and then when the first College Football Playoff rankings came out, we was like No. 16 or 17," Cardale Jones, Ohio State's third string QB, said in his postgame comments after the National Championship. "Long story short, we weren't supposed to be here."

Urban Meyer, Ohio State's coach, said in his postgame remarks this team "will go down as one of the great stories in college football history."