Ohio State could be the best offense in college football history in 2022.
Why not? The Buckeyes had the best offense last year, and a record-setting cast returns in 2022.
Quarterback C.J. Stroud set Ohio State’s single-game passing record with 573 yards in last year’s Rose Bowl and is a front-runner for this year’s Heisman Trophy. Receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba broke single-season and single-game school records in receptions and yards. Running back TreVeyon Henderson rushed for a single-game freshman-record 277 yards against Tulsa on Sept. 18, 2021.
That Preseason All-American and Heisman talk is out there about an offense that could follow in the national championship footsteps of LSU in 2019 and Alabama in 2020. Just don’t tell Ohio State coach Ryan Day that.
“Our offense hasn’t done anything,” Day said after the first day of fall camp on Aug. 4. “This is a whole new group. We have to go out and prove ourselves. I know what you’re saying, ‘Well the offense is going to go out there and start scoring and be the best offense in the conference.’ It doesn’t just happen.”
But it could happen over the course of a season, and Day’s track record with the Buckeyes is solid. Ohio State has averaged at least 40 points per game and 500 yards per game each of the last five seasons since Day joined the staff as a co-offensive coordinator under Urban Meyer in 2017.
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The Buckeyes broke the school record with 46.9 points per game in 2019 and total yards with a FBS-best 561.7 yards per game last season.
“It’s ridiculous,” Big Ten Network analyst Joshua Perry told Sporting News. “We know as you start to evaluate it, it’s the best offense in the country a year ago and not just saying it; statistically it was really good. It will be the same thing this year.”
Ohio State offense since 2017
| YEAR | RECORD | PPG | RANK | YPG | RANK |
| 2017 | 12-2 | 41.6 | 6 | 506.2 | 7 |
| 2018 | 13-1 | 42.4 | 8 | 535.7 | 2 |
| 2019 | 13-1 | 46.9* | 3 | 530.4 | 4 |
| 2020 | 7-1 | 41.0 | 11 | 519.4 | 7 |
| 2021 | 11-2 | 45.7 | 1 | 561.7* | 1 |
*Denotes school record
Ohio State also led the nation with 45.7 points per game last season. That 594-point total ranked among the greatest seasons of all time. Stroud used a mantra popularized by LeBron James in Ohio to describe what’s next for the unit heading into this season.
“Everything we get has to be earned,” Stroud said at Big Ten Media Days on July 27. “Nothing will be given. We are working just for that. Just because we had the No. 1 offense last year doesn’t mean we’ll have it again. We have to go out there and take it.”
If they do, then that would follow a trend of record-setting offenses in recent seasons. In 2019, LSU, led by Ohio State transfer Joe Burrow, set a FBS-record with 726 points in 15 games en route to a national championship. Alabama set a 12-game record with 630 points and beat the Buckeyes 52-24 in the College Football Playoff championship game.
FBS records for points scored (by games played)
| SCHOOL | GAMES | POINT | AVERAGE |
| Army (1944) | 9 | 504 | 56.0 |
| Oklahoma (1956) | 10 | 466 | 46.6 |
| Houston (1989) | 11 | 589 | 53.5 |
| Alabama (2020) | 12 | 630 | 52.5 |
| Baylor (2013) | 13 | 681 | 52.4 |
| Florida State (2013) | 14 | 723 | 51.6 |
| LSU (2019) | 15 | 726 | 48.4 |
That 1944 Army team still holds the record with 56.0 points per game. The pieces are there for Ohio State to make an LSU- or Alabama-type run with a 50-points-per-game offense. That starts with the quarterback-running back-receiver trio.
Stroud, who passed for 4,435 yards and 44 TDs as a first-year starter, is the launching point. He’s the first quarterback Day will have for a full second season if you consider Justin Fields’ second year as a starter was during the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season.
“You have a guy in C.J. Stroud who even when he wasn’t at his best last year he was still great,” Perry said. “He’s going to be a year better, a year more mature, a year more comfortable. You can lean on that.”
Smith-Njigba is all over Preseason All-American lists. He had 95 catches for 1,606 yards and nine TDs and set a Rose Bowl record with 15 catches for 347 yards and three TDs.
Smith-Njigba is the centerpiece of a receiver room that lost first-round picks Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave yet still might be just as productive with Marvin Harrison Jr., Julian Fleming and Emeka Egbuka. Henderson, who rushed for 1,258 yards and 15 TDs as a freshman, will lead a running back rotation that includes Miyan Williams and Evan Pryor.
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“We do have a lot of guys who we have to get the ball to and have to figure that out, but that’s a good problem to have,” Day said. “The focus has to be on the team. We’ll find different ways to get guys the ball.”
It will take a few NFL Drafts to see how that stacks up against LSU and Alabama. Every LSU and Alabama starting quarterback, running back and receiver on those teams was selected within the first two rounds of the last three NFL Drafts. Eight of the 10 starting linemen are on an NFL roster, too, and Alabama guard Emil Ekiyor is on SN’s 2022 Preseason All-American team.
When looking at future NFL Mock Drafts, this Ohio State projected starting offense sizes up favorably. Stroud, Smith-Njigba and tackle Paris Johnson are all projected to be first-round picks in SN’s latest 2023 NFL Mock Draft.
Of course, Ohio State is trying to marry that with defensive coordinator Jim Knowles’ new scheme. The Buckeyes are looking for a team that has a top-10 offense and top-10 defense, which was the formula that worked in Day’s first season in 2019. That Ohio State team lost 29-23 to Clemson in the College Football Playoff semifinals, which prevented a shot at that legendary Burrow-led LSU offense.
“We’ve got to go put it on the field, but the expectation is to have a top-10 offense every year,” Day said. “The expectation is to have a top-10 defense. We did that year, and we had a strong team. When you combine those things and can build on them, then that should be the expectation every year.”
To stay in that discussion, Ohio State would have to win a national championship like the Tigers and Crimson Tide. Last year’s team had the top offense, but losses to Oregon and Michigan still linger. Despite that, the All-American, Heisman Trophy and national championship talk is out there.
“I hear a lot of things, but I’m focused on winning a national championship,” Smith-Njigba said. “That’s my main focus. I’ve always tried to focus on the common goal, because if I get into that I’ll be everywhere. I want to focus on a national championship. Whatever comes with that, comes with that.”
That is the expectation for this star-studded offense from Day 1. It’s a lofty mission, but Smith-Njigba isn’t backing down from that talk. Is there the potential for Ohio State to be a 50-point, 600-yard offense?
“I’m not going to put any limit to that,” Smith-Njigba said at Big Ten Media Days. “We go on the field, and we try to score every possession. We’re just looking forward to the challenge of being the best and holding to that standard.”
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