3 stats that prove that Ohio State is a full-blown death machine again

If you were concerned about the Ohio State offense after the first game of the season, the Buckeyes should have killed any worries by now.

There was plenty of concern about Ohio State football after the first week of the 2022 season as the then-No. 2-ranked team in the country struggled mightily to move the ball consistently against an admittedly good Notre Dame defense. That caused the Buckeyes to drop to No. 3 in the polls, but all they’ve done since is make the case that they should be back up at No. 2 or perhaps even up at No. 1.

In the three weeks since the 21-10 win over the Irish, OSU hasn’t put up fewer than 45 points in a game, including dropping 77 on Toledo and then beating the brakes off of Wisconsin this past Week in a 52-21 drubbing that wasn’t even that close.

While the level of competition outside of Wisconsin hasn’t been tremendous, it certainly looks like Ohio State is back to being a death machine that there is no hope of stopping. And if you won’t take my word for it, these stats might convince you of that.

Ohio State football: 3 stats that prove the Buckeyes offense is a death machine again

3. Ohio State WR group has been absurd even without Jaxon Smith-Njigba

The win over Notre Dame saw the offense suffer a scare as Jaxon Smith-Njigba left the game after a big hit in the first half and didn’t return. He’s been banged up since then and hasn’t seen the field except for being sparingly played in the dominant win over Toledo. But that hasn’t stopped WRU from living up to its name.

Over just four games in the 2022 season, Emeka Egbuka, Julian Fleming, Marvin Harrison Jr. and Cade Stover all have multi-touchdown games with Harrison doing so on two separate occasions. And again, that’s all with Smith-Njigba having barely played this season.

Ohio State’s depth at receiver was touted coming into the year but the way that group is already living up to the billing with the top option being out of action is truly absurd.

2. The Buckeyes run game is every bit as lethal as the passing attack

While the passing game was out in full force against the Badgers in the statement win on Saturday, the rushing attack was every bit as unstoppable with TreVeyon Henderson and Miyan Williams sharing the load.

Henderson led the way with 21 carries for 121 yards while Williams was actually the more efficient of the duo as he went for 101 yards and two touchdowns on only 11 carries in the game.

For an offense that has the quarterback and crop of wide receivers that the Buckeyes do, the fact that they also have two running backs who can go up against a team that has traditionally been stout defensively as Wisconsin has been and each come away with 100-yard outings is just terrifying for every defense OSU is going to face this season.

1. C.J. Stroud has been absurdly good since rocky start vs Notre Dame

One of the biggest reasons there was even a modicum of concern about the Ohio State offense was the overall lack of explosiveness and playmaking from the Buckeyes’ Heisman Trophy frontrunner, quarterback C.J. Stroud, in the season-opener against Notre Dame. Sure, he had a fine game as he went 24-of-34 for 223 yards and two touchdowns with no turnovers, but that’s not the eye-popping level of production many were expecting.

He’s been delivering that since the season opener, however.

In the three games since, Stroud has been absurdly good as he’s thrown for 999 yards with 14 touchdowns and only one interception while completing 70.5 percent of his passes. Granted, two of those games were against Toledo and Arkansas State, but that doesn’t make the numbers any less wild. He’s the guy we all thought he would be and that’s bad news for college football secondaries.

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Stroud 14 touchdowns, 1 INT since Notre Dame game | 3 different WRs have had multi-TD games and none are Smith-Njigba | 2 100-yard rushers against Wisconsin with Miyan Williams and TreVeyon Henderson)