Ohio State Football: Inside the numbers for the Buckeyes

A month’s worth of games have been played by Ohio State. What does the numbers say about the team so far?

Ohio State begins Big Ten play for real when they travel to Rutgers for a prime time showdown. With four games under their belt, some interesting stats have started to emerge in the box scores.

Let’s take a look at both the typical and not so typical stats behind the Buckeyes’ 3-1 start.

39.2: Ohio State’s points per game, which ranks 28th nationally.

229.8: Ohio State’s rushing yards per game, which ranks 25th nationally.

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319.2: The Buckeye’s passing yards per game, which actually ranks 14th in the country.

111: The total number of first downs for the Buckeyes, which is tied for the second most in college football and trails only the 113 from West Virginia. Only four of those first downs have come by penalty.

26:36: The average time of possession for the Buckeyes. Oddly enough, this trails their opponents’ average of 33:24.

42%: The Ohio State conversion rate on third down, sitting at a middle of the pack 59th in college football.

582: The number of all-purpose yards for Parris Campbell, which leads the Buckeyes. He is just ahead of J.K. Dobbins with 543 yards. After that? 187 yards by K.J. Hill

16: The team’s total punt return yards, including nine for Hill and seven by Damrio McCall.

3: The number of defensive backs in the top three on the team in tackles, Damon Webb leads the team with 25, followed by Erick Smith (22) and Damon Arnette (21).

1: Number of players for Ohio State that have a tackle for loss in every game. That would be Nick Bosa, who leads the team in that category as well as in sacks.

913: The total number of passing yards allowed by the Ohio State defense. Divided over four games, that’s not so bad. However, remember that 806 of those yards came against Indiana and Oklahoma, or just over 88% of the team’s passing yards allowed.

Next: What was learned vs UNLV?

Some of these numbers are interesting just for the sake of being interesting. But others, such as the passing yardage, time of possession, and reliance on tackles for loss to cover for the secondary, could catch up to the team later on. We’ll know more as Ohio State moves through Big Ten play in search of only the second conference title in the Urban Meyer era.

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