Best offense ever? Loaded Ohio State unit could prove it in 2022
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-breaking line-up is returning in 2022.
Quarterback CJ Stroud set Ohio State’s single-game passing record for 573 yards in last year’s Rose Bowl and is one of the frontrunners at this year’s Heisman Trophy. Receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba broke school records in single season and single game at receptions and yards. Running back TreVeyon Henderson rushed for a freshman-record 277 yards in a single game on Sept. 18, 2021 against Tulsa.
The Preseason All-American and Heisman discuss an offense that could follow in the footsteps of LSU’s national championship in 2019 and Alabama’s in 2020. Just don’t say that to Ohio State coach Ryan Day.
“Our offensive didn’t accomplish 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. Well, 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 over the past five seasons since Day joined the team as 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 an FBS best of 561.7 yards per game last season.
“It’s ridiculous,” Big Ten Network analyst Joshua Perry told Sporting News. “We know that a year ago it was the best offense in the country and that’s not just being said. Statistically it was really good. It will be the same this year.”
Ohio State offense since 2017
| YEAR | RECORDING | PPG | RANK | YPG | RANK |
| 2017 | 12-2 | 41.6 | 6 | 506.2 | 7 |
| 2018 | 13-1 | 42.4 | 8th | 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 last season with 45.7 points per game. That total of 594 ranks among the best seasons of all time. Stroud used a mantra popularized by Ohio’s LeBron James to describe what’s next for the unit heading into this season.
“Everything we get has to be earned,” Stroud said on July 27 at the Big Ten Media Days. “Nothing is given for free. We only work for it I will have it again. We have to go out there and take it.
If so, it would follow a trend of record-breaking crimes in recent seasons. In 2019, led by Ohio State’s Joe Burrow, LSU set an FBS record with 726 points in 15 games en route to a national championship. Alabama set a 12-game record with 630 points, beating 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 |
| State of Florida (2013) | 14 | 723 | 51.6 |
| LSU (2019) | fifteen | 726 | 48.4 |
The 1944 Army team still holds the record with 56.0 points per game. The plays are there for Ohio State to make an LSU or Alabama-type run at a 50-point offense per game. That starts with the quarterback-running-back-receiver trio.
Stroud, who passed 4,435 yards and 44 TDs as a freshman starter, is the starting point. He’s the first quarterback Day will have for a full second season, considering Justin Fields’ sophomore year as a starter was during the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season.
“You have a guy in CJ Stroud who was great even when he wasn’t at his best last year,” Perry said. “He’s getting a year better, a year more mature, a year more comfortable. You can rely on it.”
Smith-Njigba is on all 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 but could still be just as prolific 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 have a lot of people that we have to feed the ball to and they have to figure that out, but that’s a good problem,” Day said. “The focus has to be on the team. We will find different ways to give the lads the ball.”
It’ll 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 these teams was drafted in the first two rounds of the last three NFL drafts. Eight of the 10 starting linemen are also on an NFL roster, and Alabama guard Emil Ekiyor is on SN’s 2022 Preseason All-American team.
Looking at future NFL mock drafts, this Ohio state predicted that starting offenses will increase favorably. Stroud, Smith-Njigba and tackle Paris Johnson are all expected to be first-round picks in SN’s latest 2023 NFL Mock Draft.
Of course, Ohio State is trying to square this with Defense Coordinator Jim Knowles’ new plan. The Buckeyes are looking for a team that has top-10 offense and top-10 defense, which was the formula that worked in Day’s first season in 2019. This Ohio State team lost to Clemson in the semifinals of the College Football Playoffs by a score of 29-23. which prevented a shot at the legendary Burrow-led LSU offense.
“We’ve got to get it out there, but we expect a top-10 offense every year,” Day said. “The expectation is to have a top 10 defense. We did that this year and we had a strong team. If you can combine those things and build on that, then that should be the expectation every year.”
To stay in this discussion, Ohio State would have to win a national championship like the Tigers and Crimson Tide. Last year’s team had top offense, but losses to Oregon and Michigan remain. Still, the talk of the All-American, the Heisman Trophy, and the national championship is out there.
“I hear a lot of things but my focus is on winning a national championship,” said Smith-Njigba. “That’s my main focus. I’ve always tried to focus on the common goal, because if I commit to it, I’ll be anywhere. I want to focus on a national championship.
That’s the expectation for this star-studded offense from day one. It’s a lofty mission, but Smith-Njigba isn’t backing down from the talk. Does Ohio State have the potential to be a 50-point, 600-yard offense?
“I’m not going to put any limits on that,” Smith-Njigba said. “We go out on the field and try to score every possession. We just look forward to the challenge of being the best and maintaining that standard.”