C.J. Stroud, Marvin Harrison Jr. and Ohio State’s Offense On Pace for Record-Breaking 2022 Season

The Buckeyes’ biggest goal, of course, is to win the national championship. Out of all the records they could break this season, there’s no record they’d like to break more than the school record for most wins in a season. If the Buckeyes can win all of their games this season, including the Big Ten Championship Game and two College Football Playoff games, they’d become the first team in school history to win 15 games in a season, surpassing their 14-win national championship seasons in 2002 and 2014 and matching the modern-era FBS record previously set by 2018 Clemson and 2019 LSU.

There are a multitude of other team and individual records and milestones, though, that the Buckeyes also have a chance to break in the second half of the season, especially if they end up playing two or three postseason games. C.J. Stroud is on pace to break several Ohio State records – and could push to break some Big Ten and even NCAA records – while Marvin Harrison Jr., Emeka Egbuka and the running back tandem of Miyan Williams and TreVeyon Henderson are among the other Buckeyes who could achieve notable milestones by the end of the year. Ohio State’s offense is also on pace for another one of its most prolific seasons in school history.

Stroud could set new marks for touchdowns, efficiency

In his first season as Ohio State’s starting quarterback last year, Stroud already set numerous school records, including new marks for completion percentage (71.9), passer rating (186.6) and passing yards per game (369.6).

Six games into the 2022 season, Stroud’s completion percentage (70.5) is slightly lower than a year ago, though still higher than any other single-season completion percentage in Ohio State history. His passing yards per game have dipped to 289.5, which is indicative of the fact that the Buckeyes simply haven’t needed him to throw the ball as often as he did a year ago because of their improved running game and defense and most of their early games being lopsided wins.

That said, Stroud is currently averaging 10.9 yards per passing attempt, which would be a new school record – surpassing his 10.1 yards per attempt from 2021. He’s also on pace to shatter the Ohio State and Big Ten records for passing efficiency with a current passer rating of 207.6, which would tie the NCAA record set last year by Coastal Carolina’s Grayson McCall and is nearly 16 points higher than the best single-season passer rating in Big Ten history (191.8, Russell Wilson, 2011).

If Stroud, who leads all FBS quarterbacks with 24 touchdown passes this season, can continue his current pace of four passing touchdowns per game for at least 13 games, he’d break Dwayne Haskins’ Ohio State and Big Ten record of 50 passing touchdowns in a single season. If he was to continue that pace for the potential maximum of 15 games, he’d tie the FBS record of 60 touchdown passes set by Joe Burrow in 2019.

Unless his passing yards per game increase significantly, it appears unlikely Stroud will reach Haskins’ single-season record of 4,831 passing yards. But it’s not out of the question if Ohio State ends up playing 14 or 15 games, considering Stroud already holds the school record for career 300-yard passing games (12) and is tied with Haskins for career 400-yard passing games (five).

Harrison chasing Terry Glenn’s touchdown record

Considering Stroud is on pace to break the school record for passing touchdowns, it’s no surprise that one of his top pass-catchers is also on pace to break the receiving touchdowns record. With nine touchdown catches in Ohio State’s first six games, Marvin Harrison Jr. is tied for second in receiving touchdowns among all FBS players and is already more than halfway to Terry Glenn’s single-season school record of 17 touchdown catches in 1995.

Harrison already holds the school record for most games with three receiving touchdowns in a season (two) and a career (three). If he continues his current pace of 1.5 receiving touchdowns per game for at least 13 games, Harrison would break Desmond Howard’s Big Ten record of 19 single-season touchdown catches.

Egbuka could have a record-setting year, too

At his current pace of 109.2 receiving yards per game, Emeka Egbuka would be on pace to break Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s single-season school record of 1,606 receiving yards if the Buckeyes play 15 games. Even if the Buckeyes play only the 13 games they’re currently assured to play, Egbuka would be on pace to have the third-most receiving yards of any single season in Ohio State history.

Egbuka, who has the third-most receiving yards per game among FBS players this season, could see his targets decrease in the second half of the season with Smith-Njigba expected to return from injury. That said, it is notable that Egbuka currently has more receptions (35) and receiving yards (655) than any Ohio State receiver did through six games in 2021, when Smith-Njigba – who had 23 catches for 452 yards through six games a year ago – went on to set school records with 95 receptions for 1,606 yards.

Two 1,000-yard rushers?

Ohio State has only had two 1,000-yard running backs in the same year once, 47 years ago, when Archie Griffin and Pete Johnson both ran for over 1,000 yards. Since then, the only pair of Buckeyes to achieve that milestone in the same season were Carlos Hyde and quarterback Braxton Miller in 2013.

Miyan Williams and TreVeyon Henderson could potentially join that list this year, as both are well within striking distance of the 1,000-yard mark at the halfway point of the season. Williams has rushed for 497 yards while Henderson has rushed for 436 yards – and that’s with each of them playing in only five games so far.

How healthy they are for the remainder of the season could be the biggest determinant in whether each of them hits quadruple digits, considering Williams missed the Buckeyes’ most recent game and Henderson has been battling a foot injury. But assuming both of them are on the field for the remainder of the year and continue to split carries, it’s not a big stretch to envision both of them crossing the 1,000-yard line over the next seven to nine games.

If it holds, Williams’ current average of 7.8 yards per carry would be the second-highest rushing yards per attempt average in Ohio State history behind only Walt Klevay, who averaged 7.9 yards per carry on 66 attempts in 1950.

Two 1,000-yard receivers?

Smith-Njigba and Garrett Wilson became the first pair of Ohio State receivers to top 1,000 receiving yards in the same season when they did so in 2021. Egbuka and Harrison are well-positioned to match that feat in 2022, given that both of them are already more than halfway to 1,000 yards with at least seven more games to go.

Julian Fleming’s 222 receiving yards this season are currently the third-most on the team, so it appears unlikely Ohio State will end up with three 1,000-yard receivers – a milestone Chris Olave came 64 yards short of hitting last year (and very might well have hit if he had played in the Rose Bowl).

That said, Ohio State is currently on pace to have three 10-touchdown receivers for the first time in school history, as Egbuka already has six touchdown catches and Fleming already has five touchdown catches to pair with the nine Harrison has already caught.

Buckeyes could set new marks for scoring, efficiency

As a team, Ohio State is currently on pace to score more points per game than it ever has in school history. The Buckeyes scored 48.8 points per game in their first six games of the season, 1.9 more than the current Ohio State record of 46.9 points per game in 2019.

The Buckeyes aren’t currently averaging quite as many yards per game as they did a year ago, as they’re currently averaging 543.7 yards per game compared to 561.5 yards per game for the 2021 season as a whole, but that’s mostly because they haven’t run as many plays. Ohio State’s current average of 8.07 yards per offensive play would be a school record, edging out the 7.96 yards per play the Buckeyes averaged in 2021.

With 41 touchdowns through six games, Ohio State would be on pace to surpass its school record of 90 touchdowns (set in 2014) if it plays at least 14 games this year.

Although historical data is not readily available for Ohio State’s red zone efficiency before the 2007 season, it’s safe to say the Buckeyes are also on record pace for red zone scoring percentage, considering they have scored on 100% of their red zone possessions so far this year with 27 touchdowns and two field goals on 29 total trips inside the 20-yard line. The Buckeyes’ current red zone touchdown percentage of 93.1% would be nine percentage points higher than any Ohio State has finished the year with since 2007.