Ohio State Football: Day’s start at OSU more impressive than Meyer’s

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day has started his career with a bang. How do his first six games compare to Urban Meyer’s first six games at OSU?

Urban Meyer was and always will be an Ohio State football legend winning three Big Ten Championships, five Big Ten East Division titles and one national championship under his reign.

So far, the Ryan Day era has looked promising too as the Buckeyes are 6-0. Meyer also began his career at Ohio State 6-0 so how do their starts compare? Let’s take a look.

Comparing offenses

Day’s offense has so far been more prolific than Meyer’s.

Through six games in 2012, the Buckeyes scored 38.5 points per game under Meyer. Their best offensive outing points-wise was against Nebraska as they scored 63 points on the Cornhuskers. That is solid but not as good as this year’s numbers so far.

This year Ohio State is averaging 49.3 points per game – fourth in the nation – and their best offensive outing points-wise was against the Miami RedHawks in week four when they dropped 76 points.

Additionally, in 2012 the Buckeyes averaged 386.5 yards through the first six games while this year’s team is averaging 535 yards per game. They also have 1,734 total rushing yards so far this year, compared to only 727 rushing yards at that time in 2012.

The 2012 team did have more total passing yards so far – 1,592 compared to 1,476 – but they only had six passing touchdowns compared to the 21 this year’s team has.

Braxton Miller, Carlos Hyde and company were great for the Buckeyes that year but Justin Fields and J.K. Dobbins have been better.

Now let’s look at the defenses and the strength of schedules.