For Ohio State, 42 is the magic number.
Well, at least it’s been that way in five of the Buckeyes’ last six games.
Glance down a list of Ohio State’s recent games and there’s something that almost certainly catches the eye: The Buckeyes have managed to score exactly 42 points in three-straight games and five of its last six. That streak began with last season’s 42-27 victory against Indiana, and continued through Monday night’s season-opening 42-24 win over Virginia Tech.
Along the way, Ohio State also picked up a 42-28 win against Michigan, a 42-35 triumph over Alabama in the Sugar Bowl and a 42-20 national-championship victory against Oregon. The only time the Buckeyes didn’t score exactly 42 points over their last six games? That’d be the 59-0 rout of Wisconsin in last season’s Big Ten championship game.
“It’s great being on a team this good,” running back Ezekiel Elliott said following the season-opening win over the Hokies. “I think it’s kind of scary, honestly. … I think it’s just a scary thing because we can be very dominant.”
Forty-two points in five out of six games probably seems like a strange coincidence to the average person, and more than likely, that’s probably what’s happening here. But when you dive a little deeper into what Urban Meyer’s offenses have done since he took over at Ohio State prior to the 2012 season, it makes a little bit more sense.
In Meyer’s 42 games as the Buckeyes’ head coach — he’s 39-3, by the way — Ohio State has scored 1,797 points. The per-game average for that? Well, it’s 42.8 points per game, almost right in line with the current streak he’s got going on now.
If you want to break it down even further, Ohio State averaged 37.2 points per game in 2012, 45.5 per game in 2013 and 44.8 per game during last year’s national championship season.
For Meyer, though, there’s always room to do better. He cited turnovers and penalties as points of emphasis. It was an issue against Virginia Tech and even going back to late in the 2014 season.
“Offensively, a little disappointed with execution,” Meyer said. “However, at the end of the day, we played the last — if you count the last three games, the last four games, we’ve faced four defenses probably in the top-10 in the country and still scored a lot of points.”
Ohio State will continue to score a lot of points this season, too, especially now that it has passed its biggest test of the season prior to a Nov. 21 matchup against Michigan State. The Buckeyes will play three-straight games at Ohio Stadium prior to the Big Ten season, and all of them are against non-Power 5 teams.
Combine the level of opponent with Ohio State’s absurd level of offensive firepower at nearly every position and you’ve got the potential for one of college football’s highest-scoring offenses.
“Just clean up on them turnovers and mental mistakes,” quarterback Cardale Jones said, “and I’m pretty sure you’ll see more [points] next week.”
More than 42? Probably. But we’ll have to see how long this streak goes on.
