Will the Buckeyes Surpass Their 2024 Performance?

Spring football gets started this month and it will be a first chance to get a real look at the players who will be charged with defending Ohio State’s national championship.

Returning starters will be few and far between for Ohio State with 17 players draft eligible this season but while the Buckeyes are going to be young, it doesn’t mean that the Buckeyes will be short on talent.

The 2024 season was a magical ride that saw Ohio State go from the deepest of depths to the highest of highs after the four-game postseason run that resulted in the championship.

There was no shortage of individual accolades for the Buckeyes over the course of the season with the likes of Will Howard, Jeremiah Smith, the running back duo of TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins along with great efforts on defense by just about everybody.

It is hard to compare apples-to-apples sometimes, Ohio State played a 16-game season, and you are only promised 12 games, so there are no guarantees that next year will see as many games. But making comparisons is what we do around here, so we are going to play a little game of over/under when it comes to 2024 numbers and if the 2025 team (or a player) can best those numbers or not.

Rushing total per game: 166.4 yards per game

OVER: This one is simple for me to explain; Ohio State is going to have a new quarterback playing and I think that Ohio State is going to have to rely more upon the run this season. That is good news for James Peoples and C.J. Donaldson, but I even expect to see a mobile Julian Sayin (or whoever the QB may end up being). The number was up from the 2023 season when Ohio State only ran for 138.8 yards per game, but prior to that, Ohio State has run for at least 180 yards per game in every season for more than a decade.

Passing total per game: 263.0 yards per game

UNDER: I already played my hand in the previous answer. Sure, Ohio State could go up in both numbers and with a new offensive coordinator in Brian Hartline, could the Buckeyes be even more prolific? Possible, but not probable with the number of new players being installed into the offense. There is no doubt that having players like Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate, among others, will go a long way in propelling this offense, but I just think that things are going to take a little bit of time to get rolling and Ohio State has a couple of “prove it” games on the schedule that won’t be easy to get things rolling.

Points per game: 35.7 points per game

UNDER: The Buckeyes scored five more points a game from 2023 to 2024. Ohio State last scored 36.0 PPG (or less) in the 2015 season with several years of breaking the 40s. In the previous two comments, we were only talking about yards, and we all know that yards are great, but we count points to determine the winner. So, Ohio State could have fewer yards and score more points in theory. I think we will see Ohio State take a little bit of a step backward in offense, but I don’t think it will be back to the 30.5 PPG of the 2023 season.

Jeremiah Smith numbers: 76 receptions, 1,315 yards, 15 touchdowns

OVER: Everyone knew that Jeremiah Smith was going to be special, but did anyone really predict those numbers? I am not sure I even really saw the numbers he put up, scoring touchdowns in his first seven games, etc.… Yes, I am picking lower passing numbers and Ohio State is still deep at wide receiver. The subtraction of Emeka Egbuka from the equation will mean something and whether that means that Brandon Inniss, Mylan Graham or someone else steps into a larger role, I tend to think that Smith is just a “get out of jail free card” for any quarterback. Wide open or contested catches, Smith makes almost all of them. It is not a case of teams after the first two weeks of the season no being aware of who Smith was. He wasn’t exactly sneaking up on anybody. Teams will try to take him away but will fail spectacularly.

Leading Tackler: Cody Simon 112 tackles

UNDER: I am really having to guess on this one, we are not even sure what the defense is going to look like under Matt Patricia, but I didn’t want to sit on this piece any longer, so here we are. The reality is that 112 tackles over a 16-game season is just seven per game. That doesn’t sound that high, right? Arvell Reese already showed a propensity to get out there and hit and I am not expecting the Buckeyes to feel any sort of significant drop off but conversely, we shouldn’t put pressure on Reese to be Simon in year-one of starting. Tommy Eichenberg had 9.23 tackles per game in the 2022 season, so the number is reachable, but I just don’t see it cashing this year.

Leading Sacker: JT Tuimoloau 12.5 sacks

UNDER: I really struggled with this one and yes, I know, Ohio State is losing its whole starting defensive line. And yes, talent is very important. Did Ohio State figure something out however when it comes to the final four games of the season? The Buckeyes recorded 18 sacks over those 16 quarters of football, but not having Tuimoloau, Sawyer et al is going to be significant. I am really buying when it comes to Kenyatta Jackson, Caden Curry and the line of the future (current, I guess). This is not a category where we are talking about the team having X number of sacks, just a case of someone really getting confident and consistent when it comes to getting to the quarterback. I think someone gets close, I really do, I can’t explain why. I just do.

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