By The Numbers: At The Quarter Mark

The football season will pass you by if you blink and for the Buckeyes, 25-percent of the regular season is in the books with three out of 12 regular season games completed.

We are still at the point of the year where overall season stats are a bit misleading with anywhere from two to four games completed for teams, but we are starting to get an idea of who can compete and who may just be along for the ride.

From time-to-time we like to look at the numbers and see if they are saying anything to us. Coming off a near-historic output against Toledo on Saturday, it seemed like a perfect chance to see how things stack up against past games as offense gets more wide open and records continue to fall. We do all of that here in our By The Numbers feature.

77: The number of points that Ohio State put up against Toledo. Obviously, that is a huge number and the Buckeyes have gotten into the 70s now and then with the same 77 number coming up to start the 2018 season when Ohio State beat Oregon State 77-31.

Ohio State looked to call the dogs off but sometimes points happen and who is here to deny a player like TC Caffey a chance to score a touchdown on the biggest of stages? But the play calling gets much more basic when you are trying to finish off a game and just get everyone to the locker room.

Maybe that was not the case prior to 1951 with the Buckeyes breaking the 80-point threshold a couple of times.

Ohio State’s 128 points put up against Oberlin in 1916 will likely stand forever, unless football changes its scoring system or Ohio State gets a head coach with no regard for his opponent. Even when people talk about, ‘Hanging A Hundred’ on a team, you would still need four more touchdowns to tie that longstanding record.

Ohio State got into the 80s four times as well with 85 vs. Drake (1935), 83 vs. Iowa (1950), 80 vs. Miami (1904) and 80 vs. Marietta (1892).

When was the last time that there was a team that scored 100 points? Rockford defeated Trinity Bible 105-0 in 2003 in Division 3 play. The last time teams that are currently members of Division 1-FBS pulled off the feat? Houston beat Tulsa 100-6 in 1968 in the Astrodome.

763: It is hard to imagine putting up 763 yards of total offense in a game, but the Buckeyes did that against Toledo. That was only 13 yards off the school record, when the Buckeyes amassed 776 yards of total offense against Bowling Green in 2016.

700-plus yards of offense would appear to be a new development with where the game is but strangely enough, two of Ohio State’s other 700-plus games took place during very different eras. Ohio State put up 718 yards against Mount Union back in 1930 and then put up 715 against Utah in 1986.

6: Ohio State quarterbacks combined for six passing touchdowns (CJ Stroud: 5, Kyle McCord: 1) against Toledo. On the surface that sounds like an okay number but when you stop to think that six in a game is good for second all-time in single game performance. This now marks the 8^th time that the Buckeyes have had six in a game and only one off the record of seven in a game.

The last time that Ohio State had six in a game is not that far in the history books with the 2022 Rose Bowl game versus Utah seeing that outcome with three to Marvin Harrison and three to Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

And as for the seven touchdown games? They are as follows: Miami of Ohio (2019), UNLV (2017), Bowling Green (2016) and Pittsburgh (1995).

482: That is the number of passing yards for the Buckeyes versus the Rockets, a far cry from some of the passing numbers of old.

Sometimes you have to stop and think about where the passing game was 30 years ago for the Buckeyes and even prior to that. Yes, there was a moment in history where a Troy Smith would emerge and have a big season but let’s not forget that Ohio State’s DNA is heavily influenced with the run.

482 yards is good for third all-time in single game passing for the Buckeyes. What may be hard to fathom is that just how far it is off from the highest output, which happened in the aforementioned Rose Bowl game when Stroud threw for 573 yards.

But then you must remember that this game was in hand for the Buckeyes for a long time and Ohio State didn’t need to throw for much of the 4^th quarter, keeping the numbers somewhat down after they had already exploded.

The only other game that eclipsed Saturday’s total was the 2018 Big Ten Championship Game when the late-Dwayne Haskins threw for 499 yards and led his team to a Big Ten Championship against Northwestern.

565.3: For all the concerns through the first two weeks about the Ohio State offense, the Buckeyes are No. 1 in the nation in total offense with 565.3 yards. Yes, it is only three games and to compare three non-conference games against a full season of 12-plus games wouldn’t be fair, but it goes without saying that the Toledo game did a lot to move the needle on those numbers. And if we are being honest, it is not as if most teams are playing difficult non-conference schedules.

Just for a little perspective, Ohio State’s total offense number is 10.7 YPG ahead of the No. 2 team, a fellow Big Ten team, Minnesota. Tennessee comes in No. 3, 11.6 YPG behind Ohio State.

And what about Michigan for all the chest thumping and declarations about what is going to happen in November? The Wolverines check in at No. 21 and 67.6 YPG behind the Buckeyes.

But we know it is about how many points you put up and the Buckeyes will need to find a way this year to put up more points that Jim Harbaugh’s crew the last Saturday of November.

We have a feeling that Ryan Day will have his team more than ready.

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