I follow the Big Ten Network Stat Guy on twitter, and occasionally he posts some interesting statistics about OSU. Today he posted two stats I found interesting.

Ohio State has allowed 93.6 rushing yards per game over the last two seasons. That is fourth among FBS teams in this span.

Penn State has allowed 202 touchdowns from scrimmage since 2002. The only FBS team to allow fewer in this span? Ohio State with 180.


It's amazing that in the past eight seasons OSU has only allowed 180 touchdowns from scrimmage. That's only 22.5 TD's per season, or approximately 1.5 a game. That's also 11% fewer than the next closest team. Guess I shouldn't worry about the offense this year because with a defense that doesn't give up points we sure don't need to score much.

I think what's more amazing is Penn State's number. They haven't been overly successful with multiple B1G Championships and BCS appearances.

bigkahuna;874945 wrote:I think what's more amazing is Penn State's number. They haven't been overly successful with multiple B1G Championships and BCS appearances.

They haven't been as good offensively either.

hoops23;874962 wrote:They haven't been as good offensively either.

Correct. Linebacker U. usually doesn't have issues on defense. They struggle with Joe Pa's antiquated offensive "strategeries."

So, PSU's problem is that even though the D doesn't surrender a lot of points, their offense doesn't produce a lot either.

krambman;874941 wrote:I follow the Big Ten Network Stat Guy on twitter, and occasionally he posts some interesting statistics about OSU. Today he posted two stats I found interesting.

Ohio State has allowed 93.6 rushing yards per game over the last two seasons. That is fourth among FBS teams in this span.

Penn State has allowed 202 touchdowns from scrimmage since 2002. The only FBS team to allow fewer in this span? Ohio State with 180.


It's amazing that in the past eight seasons OSU has only allowed 180 touchdowns from scrimmage. That's only 22.5 TD's per season, or approximately 1.5 a game. That's also 11% fewer than the next closest team. Guess I shouldn't worry about the offense this year because with a defense that doesn't give up points we sure don't need to score much.

Bowling Green, Toledo, Youngstown State, Akron, Ohio, etc, etc, etc, etc x's 40

Only 180 TD's from scrimmage since 2002 is really mind blowing to me. Just an awesome stat.

cats gone wild;875352 wrote:Bowling Green, Toledo, Youngstown State, Akron, Ohio, etc, etc, etc, etc x's 40

Take it easy there Northwestern State. Everyone has their cup cakes. Doesn't take away from the fact that OSU has enjoyed some pretty good defensive success against some pretty tough offenses along the way.

charliehustle14;875422 wrote:Doesn't take away from the fact that OSU has enjoyed some pretty good defensive success against some pretty tough offenses along the way.

I would be interested in reading the average against top 25 teams.

Tobias Fünke;875451 wrote:I would be interested in reading the average against top 25 teams.

Yeah no idea and I'm not taking the time to go that far with it. But to hold teams to an average of 1.5 TD's per game since 2002 is pretty sick. And 11% fewer than the next closest team in that category is pretty nice as well.

Haters gonna hate.

Tobias Fünke;875451 wrote:I would be interested in reading the average against top 25 teams.

It would be higher just at it would be higher for any teams numbers against the top 25 competition. Thus the "average". Try as you might to discredit a great statistic, you're going to end up looking silly.

bigkahuna;875030 wrote:So, PSU's problem is that even though the D doesn't surrender a lot of points, their offense doesn't produce a lot either.

There was one season (maybe 2004) where Penn State was the only team in the country to not give up 20+ points in a single game. They finished with a losing record. It was painful to watch. The next season they were 11-1 and a one play from playing in the BCS title game. Defense is never the issue. Even last year when the D was down, they still were pretty good.