Ohio State Buckeyes: An in-depth look at the team's 2017 numbers

What kind of numbers did Ohio State put up prior to bowl season?

As Ohio State prepares to travel to Arlington for the Cotton Bowl, there’s plenty of time to dig deep into the match up with USC. While the Buckeye history against the Trojans isn’t great, the 2017 de facto Rose Bowl is sure to be a good one.

How exactly did the Buckeyes get here? We take a look at the Ohio State 2017 numbers behind a Big Ten Championship season.

All statistics provided by sportsreference.com .

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Nick Bosa ended the 2017 season with 32 total tackles. Incredibly,14.5 of those tackles were for a loss. That tally was the most on the team and by a player that did not play every defensive snap he possibly could.

J.T. Barrett has never been a big-armed quarterback. Kevin Wilson’s offense doesn’t care. How so? Six different receivers averaged over 15 yards per catch, with Johnnie Dixon leading the way among regulars with 23.4 yards per catch.

Mike Weber got off to a slow start due to injury and only managed 96 carries on the season. He certainly made the most of them though, tying for the team lead with 10 rushing touchdowns, or a score roughly every 10 times he ran the ball.

For reference, J.K Dobbins scored seven times on 181 carries, or a score roughly every 26 carries.

It’s the same kind of story in the receiving corp. K.J. Hill paced the Buckeyes with 55 catches, but only found the end zone three times. Binjimen Victor caught only 23 passes all year, but scored seven touchdowns on the season.

An incredible 16 different players recorded at least a half a sack in 2017.

Sean Nuernberger didn’t miss a single extra point all season, going a perfect 68 for 68. That helped him lead the Buckeyes in scoring with 116 total points.

The Buckeye passing defense shined bright in wins, allowing only 159.6 yards per game. In losses, it was far, far worse. In the two losses on the year, Ohio State allowed an average of 315 passing yards per game.

Ohio State faced three of the nation’s top 20 rushers in Jonathan Taylor, Ahmad Bradshaw, and Lexington Thomas. They also faced mid season Heisman favorite Saquon Barkley. Neither player played up to their season averages against the Buckeyes.

Taylor: Season average of 142 yards per game, but 41 against Ohio State

Bradshaw: Season average of 130.5 yards per game, but 50 against Ohio State

Thomas: Season average of 111.3 yards per game, but 84 against Ohio State (scored on a 55 yard run in the third quarter against the second team defense)

Barkley: Season average of 94.5 yards per game, but 44 against Ohio State (36 yard touchdown run, but 20 carries for eight yards otherwise)

Ohio State racked up the 11th most penalty yardage in the country, averaging 70.2 penalty yards per game. USC, though, is one of the few teams with more.

The Buckeyes 42.5 points per game is fifth in the country and fourth in first downs with 26.2 per game. They only ran the 25th most plays, though, with 74.9 plays per game. That’s efficiency.

The Silver Bullet’s finished with the eighth ranked defense by total yards, one of four Big Ten teams to make the top 10. The others?

#1 Wisconsin: Season average of 253.2 yards per game, but 449 against Ohio State. #3 Michigan: Season average of 268.6 yards per game, but 350 against Ohio State. #9 Michigan State: Season average of 297.4 yards per game, but 524 against Ohio State.

Next: Ohio State is FanSided's 2017 top fanbase

As a point of reference, USC’s defense is 77th in the country allowing 405.5 yards per game.

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Ohio State Buckeyes: An in-depth look at the team’s 2017 numbers

By Joe Russo | Dec 12, 2017

What kind of numbers did Ohio State put up prior to bowl season?

More from Factory of Sadness