All told, Ohio State has outscored opponents by a combined 270 points and has looked every bit the part of a national title favorite. But that doesn’t mean it has been treated like one.
And yet, at this point in a season, Ohio State has looked this good only once: 2019. 2 In fact, this team is tracking more than 7.0 points of efficiency higher than it did in 2014, when the Buckeyes ultimately won their eighth national championship.
Astonishingly, it’s been seven years since they were last ranked first in the AP Poll. That’s right: They were not even No. 1 when they earned two top-15 road wins by mid-October in 2016, nor when they won two top-15 games by the end of September in 2018, nor when they bulldozed the regular-season slate by a playoff-best average margin of victory of 33.1 points in 2019.
But for now, one of college football’s powerhouse programs has been flying strangely under the radar all season long.
I frankly kind of like the idea of OSU sailing under the radar. We know what this team can be. Everyone else has seen glimpses. TTUN (their fan base) is talking prodigious amounts of smack leading up to The Game. Who would have thought, Ohio State — the 2022 “dark horse”.
