Heading into the season, Ohio State football fans had massive expectations for this team. As the preseason number-one team in both polls, they were expected to be one of the favorites to win the national championship. It was the first time that the Buckeyes had been the top-ranked team in both polls since 2015.
However, a loss to Texas sent a lot of fans into a tailspin. Even though they only lost by one, losing a 20-point lead in the fourth quarter was the worst collapse in program history. Even though some fans are dooming, one stat shows why the Buckeyes are still good enough to win it all.
Stat shows why Ohio State can win it all
After the Ohio State Buckeyes crushed Kent State 59-3, Ohio State was seen to have the highest success rate in the country. In fact, they had the best success rate of any team in Week 3 by a wide margin compared to everyone else.
📊🏈DID WE REALLY GET BEAT THAT BAD?
— parker fleming (@statsowar) September 21, 2026
Net Success Rates in Week 3 pic.twitter.com/HDtckEw0j8
This game was never close, and the Buckeyes did pretty much whatever they wanted. However, it's still hard to tell how good the adjustments they made after the loss were since Kent State is so bad. They are going to be one of the worst teams in the MAC Conference this season.
Based on this analytic, it was a strong performance from the Buckeyes in all three phases. Of course, the Buckeyes still have to show that they can perform like this against a good team. Against the Longhorns, they showed that they could dominate for three quarters, but it's a four-quarter game.
Ohio State is done with non-conference games, so they are about to get into the Big Ten portion of the season. This is when they will start to truly learn how the adjustments they have made will work. That really starts in two weeks against Iowa when the Buckeyes travel to Iowa City.
Ohio State can prepare for tough teams by crushing Illinois
Beating Kent State by a large margin is one thing. Crushing a Big Ten team by the same margin is another. The first game that Ohio State plays against a Big Ten opponent is Illinois this week. The Fighting Illini have had a rough start to the season, losing to the only P6 opponent they have faced.
The Illini have beaten UAB and Southern Illinois, two teams that are not very good. However, they also lost to Duke. Ohio State shouldn't have much trouble with Illinois. They still clearly have things to work on, including getting the running game to be more explosive on a regular basis.
Arthur Smith hasn't been able to fix the running game yet, which is part of what he was brought in to do. The Buckeyes have yet to have a running back run for over 100 yards in a single game. That needs to change if they are going to win the conference or a national title.
Beating Kent State by a lot doesn't take much effort from the starters. Beating Big Ten teams by the same margin is a different story.
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