A Magical Numerical Run – Part Four

During Ohio State’s four-game run to the championship, it felt at times that Ohio State was scoring a point a minute. Except for the times that it was not scoring.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

That didn’t matter as much in the first two games against Tennessee and Oregon, as Ohio State got out to early leads and let the foot come off the accelerator once the outcome was secured.

But in the Texas and Notre Dame games, points became more of a premium and while the Buckeyes won by double-digits in each of those games, they didn’t feel quite as convincing as they were happening.

Get your Ohio State Championship Gear and remember 2024 forever Fanatics | Homage

It got me to thinking about the anatomy of Ohio States postseason scoring drives. There were 23 in all, 19 leading to touchdowns and four to field goals. How quickly was Ohio State scoring, how many plays did it take and were the quicker drives the more definitive drives?

TIME OF POSSESSION

This is one of those stats that we love to talk about, but does it really mean a whole heck of a lot?

Yes, when you have the ball, your opponent doesn’t (outside of Texas at the end of the Cotton Bowl, we will talk about that one in a minute).

Teams took to keeping the ball away from Ohio State in the regular season, keep the offense off the field and hope for the best. It worked out for one team, not so much for others. And then Oregon just did what Oregon does in the first game and was able to outscore Ohio State in a game where if one thing goes differently, we are looking at a different outcome.

Totaling up Ohio States 23 drives, its average time of possession on all scoring drives was 3:13. Take the four field goals out and the number falls to 3:04. That would make sense with two of the drives taking more than three minutes, one taking more than four minutes and the final taking more than five minutes.

Of the four games the Oregon game felt like the closest thing to a ‘quick strike, point-a-minute’ type of offense and you would be correct. Ohio State’s average scoring drive was a blistering 2:07. Six of Ohio State’s first seven drives were in the first half with TreVeyon Henderson’s 8-yard touchdown run in the 3^rd quarter taking all hopes away from Oregon and the comeback.

The next quickest average TOP should not come as a surprise but what will be is how close it is to the next closest. The Tennessee game saw Ohio State score on average in 3:07 on its scoring drives, but the Texas game came in at 3:09.

We took some liberties with the Texas game, there really was not a listed TOP for Ohio State on the Sawyer score, so from the television copy, we saw that it took 16 seconds from the snap of the play to the stoppage of the clock when Sawyer had scored. Can you believe it is the same amount of time as the one-play drive that saw Will Howard and Henderson connect on the 75-yard screen pass? Have no fear, Sawyer is not faster than Henderson, it just took a few seconds to set up the screen, we have not all be greatly misled along the way.

Briefly on the Oregon game, four of the seven drives took less than 100 seconds and three of the drives took 60 seconds or less. Jayden Fielding’s field goal drive was the longest, at 4:51 overall.

Lastly is the Notre Dame game with a drive average of 4:40. Ohio State did not have a drive that took less than two minutes and in fact had two drives that took more than six minutes and three total drives that were in double-digit plays. The longest drive of the game however was in the Texas game, a 7:45 drive that led to a Quinshon Judkins 1-yard touchdown to lift the Buckeyes to 21 points in the game.

DRIVE LENGTH

You could score in one play on each drive, but only score twice and lose a game 35-14, so once again, this doesn’t wrap up exactly how the game was won. Defense, special teams, even what you do with the ball on drives that you don’t score on, they all matter in the grand scheme of things.

But an explosive offense is important and too often for Ohio State’s foes, the Buckeyes punched them in the mouth and gameplans get thrown out when that happens and running teams become passing teams and bad passing teams become completely ineffective.

Over the course of the playoffs, Ohio State’s average scoring drive was 6.52 plays. That’s maybe a couple of first downs and then strike up the band.

10 of Ohio State’s 23 scoring drives (again, loosely counting the Sawyer play as a drive, stats be damned) were five plays or fewer with the Sawyer scoop and the Henderson screen each coming in as one-play drives along with Henderson’s 66-yard TD run against Oregon, a play that may be forgotten with the Texas screen dominating the ink in the papers.

Ohio State would have six drive of 10 plays or more, two of them resulting in field goals, three of the longer drives taking place against Notre Dame, in a game where Ohio State’s average scoring drive would take 8.83 plays. Texas would come in second place at 6.25 plays with Tennessee not far behind at 6.17.

Oregon really was the major anomaly, and if you are looking for the game where Ohio State really had it all working, that would be it. Ohio State had 35 plays on seven scoring drives, equaling 5.00 plays per drive. The only way you could do better is to walk out and hand the ball to the receiver.

ODDS AND ENDS

Outcomes could have been easier to deal with for Ohio State fans if the Buckeyes didn’t have to settle for four field goals along the way. But they were all extended drives of at least six plays or more and only one of the drives saw the Buckeyes move the ball less than 40 yards. The average length of the drives were all 8.75 plays however and while the field goals against Oregon didn’t really have a significant impact on the outcome, Ohio State’s last two scoring drives against Notre Dame were of the three-point variety, after opening up a 31-7 lead.

But without a closer game, we are robbed of the Will Howard to Jeremiah Smith completion, so everything happens for a reason.

Earlier we talked briefly about the 13-play, 88-yard, 7:45 drive in the Texas game to put the Buckeyes up to 21 points.

The Buckeyes were pinned deep with a Texas punt, but a UT pass interference call gave the Buckeyes a little bit of breathing room.

What will be forgotten is that Ohio State had to convert a 3^rd-and-8 (18-yard pass to Carnell Tate) and 4^th-and-2 (Will Howard 18-yard rush) on the drive to extend the drive and eventually find the end zone.

Finally, we made a big deal over the course of the season about when Ohio State scored its points. Ohio State was a much better 2^nd and 3^rd quarter team through the season, but did that hold true in the playoffs?

Not exactly, Ohio State’s best quarter was the 2^nd quarter, 48 of Ohio State’s 145 points were scored in the second frame, led by 21 against Notre Dame and 20 against Oregon.

For all the talk about fast starts, Ohio State got that in the postseason with 42 points scored in the first quarter. Almost all of that production took place in the Tennessee (21 points) and Oregon (14 points) games. Those were the most important games for that to happen as many people felt that Ohio State didn’t either a) deserve to be in the playoffs or b) be on the fame field with Oregon after the Tennessee game.

Those people were proven wrong, and we will never speak to them again.

The Buckeyes scored 31 points in the combined 3^rd quarters and finished up with 24 in the fourth quarters. Ohio State needed all 14 of its points against Texas, even if that did put Ohio State up two scores.

Go to discussion...