COLUMBUS, Ohio — With each dominant win, Ohio State continues to move its way up the rankings.

After a 66-17 home win against Maryland, the Buckeyes find themselves at No. 6 in both the latest editions of the AP Poll and the USA Today Coaches Poll.

Here's what each of the latest polls released mean for Ohio State heading into its bye week.

In 2021, both the AP Poll and the USA Today Coaches Poll are both pushing the message that the Big Ten is the best conference in all of college football.

Big Ten teams take up five of the top-10 spots in each poll: No. 2 Iowa, No. 6 Ohio State, No. 7/8 Penn State, No. 8/7 Michigan and No. 9/10 Michigan State.

Barring any sort of upset, the Hawkeyes' road to the Big Ten title game seems set, with Purdue, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Minnesota, Illinois and Nebraska finishing their regular season schedule.

As it has been all season, the Big Ten East is much tighter.

Both Michigan teams — the Spartans and the Wolverines — take the top spot in the division.

Both polls seem to feel that a Michigan State loss is coming, with Michigan, Penn State and Ohio State all still on its schedule and all ranked ahead of the Spartans.

In the AP Poll, though, both Ohio State and Penn State — one-loss teams — sit ahead of undefeated Michigan by 18 points.

What that says is that both polls are using the eye test more than actual wins and losses, seeing that only one of those four teams can potentially finish with an undefeated record, but that all could have at least one loss heading into a potential championship game.

As for the College Football Playoff, the Big Ten seems to have locked in a berth for now, especially with undefeated Iowa still in the mix, something that looks to remain until the championship game.

Nick Saban suffered his first-ever loss to a former assistant coach when Jimbo FIsher and Texas A&M beat Alabama on the road on a last-second field goal.

However, according to both polls, the Crimson Tide remain in the hunt for a Playoff spot.

Alabama dropped four spots to No. 5 in each poll and is the highest-ranked one-loss team ahead of Ohio State, which won each its past three games by an average of 46.7 points, Penn State and Oregon, along with undefeated Michigan and Michigan State.

It seems fair at this point. The eye test seems to go in favor of the Crimson Tide. I'd imagine they would be favored if Alabama were to face a higher-ranked Iowa in a Playoff game.

Alabama's season is not over. The Crimson Tide still have a potential matchup with Georgia in the SEC title game, something that could change everything if they would come out with a victory.

It's still too early to tell, but until Alabama suffers two regular-season losses, its never out of it.

This is big for Ohio college football.

After a dominant 52-3 win against Temple, the Bearcats moved up to the top-4 for the first time since 2009, coming in at No. 4 in the Coaches Poll and No. 3 in the AP Poll: their highest ranking ever in school history.

So now that Cincinnati's in the playoff picture, will it be pushed out? I don't think so. If the Bearcats finish undefeated — having UCF, Navy, Tulane, Tulsa, USF, SMU and East Carolina left on its regular season schedule — it will be hard to keep them out.

In terms of the broad playoff picture, that leaves three other spots, one if both Alabama and Georgia sneak in after the SEC championship game.

While this makes the road narrower for Ohio State, this is good for the grand scheme of college football, giving Group-of-Five teams a chance to get to the top fo the mountain.