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B1G Time: Ohio State had its worst offensive performance in the Ryan Day era
Ryan Day has been Ohio State's full-time head coach for 78 games, and Saturday's win was only the third time in those 78 games that the Buckeyes scored fewer than 17 points in a game. It was the first time they won while doing so. The first instance was a 14-3 loss to
Missouri in the 2023 Cotton Bowl that saw Ohio State play without most of its stars. Who will ever forget
Lincoln Kienholz (who lost this year's QB battle with
Julian Sayin) completing six of his 17 passes for 86 yards? Not me! The other instance was last year's 13-10 loss to
Michigan, which Ohio State quickly made a distant memory by charging to a national title.
But that's just points scored. There are so many more stats we could look at. In fact, we could make a table!
Ohio State Offense | Stat (Rank out of 78) |
---|
Points | 14 (76th) |
Yards per play | 3.8 (77th) |
Points per drive | 1.27 (76th) |
EPA per play | -0.3 (74th) |
Success rate | 37.3% (73rd) |
Explosive play rate | 3.7% (78th) |
3 & Out rate | 54.5% (77th) |
The most interesting stat to me is Ohio State's 3.7% explosive play rate. As you see in the table, it's the lowest explosive rate the Buckeyes offense has had in a game under Day. The second-worst? A 7.0% explosive rate in last year's 28-14 win over Texas in the Cotton Bowl. So if we've learned anything here today, it's to bet the under on Ohio State's team total any time it plays Texas or in the Cotton Bowl.
Another fun stat is that Ohio State went three-and-out on 54.5% of its possessions against Texas, the second-highest rate under Day, behind only last season's 21-17 win over
Nebraska (66.7%!). It's only the third time the Buckeyes have gone three-and-out on at least half their possessions in a game under Day (the third was also last year's Michigan loss, 50%). For perspective, Ohio State has played nine games under Day without going three-and-out a single time. Amazingly, one of them was last year's national title game against
Notre Dame.