Ohio State Football: The stat that will determine level of success in 2022

We know that the Ohio State football team is one of the favorites to win the national championship this season. They are returning some explosive players on the offensive side of the ball and have a defensive line littered with five-star talent.

All that talent should lead to the Buckeyes winning a lot of games this year. Talent alone won’t put them in the College Football Playoff though. They have to execute their gameplan on both sides of the ball. One stat in particular will be a barometer on whether or not they achieve their lofty goals this season.

That stat is the defensive third-down conversion percentage. On third-down plays last season, the Ohio State football team allowed their opponent to convert 41.4% of the time. That was only good enough for them to be ranked 96th in the country in that stat. In fact, they were second-worst in the Big Ten.

Being that bad on third-down on defense is nowhere near good enough. If the Buckeyes can just be middle of the pack in that stat, they have an excellent shot to win a national title. They don’t need a top 10 defense, they just need to not suck on that side of the ball.

This is something that Jim Knowles will be working on this Summer heading into the Fall. He knows that the defense has to get off the field in these situations. Letting drives continue too often demoralizes the morale of the defense and the whole team.

If Ohio State is better on third-down this season, they might be the favorite to win it all considering the offensive talent they have. But that’s a lot easier said than done. We have no proof yet that the defense will improve enough on that stat.

This will be a big storyline to follow throughout the season.