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Ohio State football: Three stats that are concerning

By Ryan Stano

Oct 29, 2022; University Park, Pennsylvania, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day questions a penalty during the fourth quarter of the NCAA Division I football game against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Beaver Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Adam Cairns-The Columbus DispatchNcaa Football Ohio State Buckeyes At Penn State Nittany Lions
Oct 29, 2022; University Park, Pennsylvania, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day questions a penalty during the fourth quarter of the NCAA Division I football game against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Beaver Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Adam Cairns-The Columbus DispatchNcaa Football Ohio State Buckeyes At Penn State Nittany Lions /
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The Ohio State football team is the second-ranked team in the country and is undefeated. You would think that means that they are a pretty darn good team. They are. In fact, they are pretty close to an elite team and could end up being the best team in the country.

But in order for them to truly be elite, there are some things that they have to clean up. If you’ve watched every game, you know some of the things I’m going to talk about. If you also look at the stats, the numbers tell stories that could make you concerned about the Buckeyes’ ability to win a national title.

There are three stats in particular that I have gathered that concern me at the moment. These are stats that need to be improved before the Buckeyes take on Michigan in the final game of the season. If they aren’t, they risk losing to their rivals for the second straight year.

It’s worth pointing out before I talk about these stats that the Buckeyes still have three weeks to improve these parts of the team. The next three weeks are going to be about shoring up weaknesses before TTUN comes to town. All stats are courtesy of NCAA.com.

The first stat has to deal with the running game.

The Ohio State football team has to get better in the run game. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
The Ohio State football team has to get better in the run game. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) /

1. Ohio State is 33rd nationally in rush yards per game.

The Ohio State football team averages 191.5 yards per game on the ground. You hear that number and think “Wow, that’s a lot!”. Well, it’s not bad. But it is just 33rd in the country. Other teams are running the ball way better than the Buckeyes at the moment.

While the fact that their 33rd isn’t super concerning, the lack of a run game in the last two games is. The Buckeyes combined for just 164 yards in those games. That is not going to get it done. The lack of a run game has put a lot of pressure on the passing game to be perfect.

Ohio State has to get this corrected soon. The failure to run the ball consistently is why TTUN beat them last year. If the Buckeyes can’t fix that, they’ll lose to TTUN again in the Shoe. They have to be more balanced on offense, especially early in the game.

The second concerning stat has to deal with the number of penalties they commit every game.

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