Ohio State opens Big Ten play this week with a trip to Washington.
Ryan Day talked a lot about the Huskies on Tuesday, and you can find the most interesting thing he said here.
Buckeye Sports Bulletin, where I am once again contributing stories and posting on their premium message board, has an overview of Washington you can check out here.
Today I am rolling out a new feature: The tale of the tape via advanced stats.
These come from CollegeFootballData.com, and they give us a more detailed look at what is working and what is not for each team.
They might also give us an idea how the teams match up Saturday in Seattle…
Let me know what you think and if you have any questions about what some of these stats mean1.
(Maybe we can do an advanced stats tutorial sometime in the future if anyone would be into that sort of thing, but in the meantime here is a glossary of terms.)
When Washington has the ball:
Washington offense | Ohio State defense | |||
Value | Rank | Value | Rank | |
Success rate | 0.456 | 62 | 0.35 | 10 |
Explosiveness | 1.256 | 59 | 1.346 | 32 |
Power Success | 0.695 | 83 | 0.739 | 75 |
Stuff Rate | 0.151 | 24 | 0.222 | 14 |
Line yards | 3.197 | 37 | 2.607 | 10 |
2nd Level yards | 1.258 | 51 | 0.707 | 12 |
Open-field yards | 1.263 | 27 | 0.517 | 11 |
Offense Field Position Average Start | 72.8 | 19 | 71.6 | 16 |
Havoc Total | 0.14 | 39 | 0.247 | 8 |
Havoc Front Seven | 0.088 | 36 | 0.144 | 10 |
Havoc DB | 0.052 | 17 | 0.103 | 12 |
Standard Downs Success Rate | 0.493 | 49 | 0.323 | 9 |
Standard Downs Explosiveness | 1.056 | 32 | 1.116 | 12 |
Passing Downs Rate | 0.293 | 103 | 0.359 | 86 |
Passing Downs Success Rate | 0.428 | 24 | 0.395 | 39 |
Passing Downs Explosiveness | 1.956 | 19 | 1.701 | 35 |
Rushing Plays Rate | 0.488 | 34 | 0.435 | 18 |
Rushing Plays Success Rate | 0.569 | 27 | 0.315 | 8 |
Rushing Plays Explosiveness | 0.867 | 126 | 1.057 | 11 |
Passing Plays Rate | 0.512 | 100 | 0.565 | 118 |
Passing Plays Success Rate | 0.354 | 88 | 0.381 | 35 |
Passing Plays Explosiveness | 1.765 | 17 | 1.637 | 40 |
When Ohio State has the ball:
Washington defense | Ohio State offense | |||
Success rate | 0.377 | 25 | 0.508 | 15 |
Explosiveness | 1.345 | 33 | 1.455 | 11 |
Power Success | 0.781 | 82 | 0.692 | 84 |
Stuff Rate | 0.208 | 22 | 0.176 | 40 |
Line yards | 2.915 | 28 | 3.321 | 29 |
2nd Level yards | 1.012 | 26 | 1.554 | 22 |
Open-field yards | 0.776 | 21 | 1.259 | 11 |
Offense Field Position Average Start | 70.8 | 29 | 71.9 | 28 |
Havoc Total | 0.165 | 39 | 0.116 | 12 |
Havoc Front Seven | 0.097 | 39 | 0.063 | 11 |
Havoc DB | 0.068 | 41 | 0.053 | 16 |
Standard Downs Success Rate | 0.366 | 24 | 0.518 | 32 |
Standard Downs Explosiveness | 1.139 | 19 | 1.157 | 15 |
Passing Downs Rate | 0.309 | 109 | 0.329 | 85 |
Passing Downs Success Rate | 0.407 | 32 | 0.471 | 18 |
Passing Downs Explosiveness | 1.637 | 40 | 2.102 | 13 |
Rushing Plays Rate | 0.479 | 11 | 0.446 | 14 |
Rushing Plays Success Rate | 0.412 | 28 | 0.569 | 26 |
Rushing Plays Explosiveness | 1.192 | 23 | 1.114 | 100 |
Passing Plays Rate | 0.521 | 95 | 0.554 | 120 |
Passing Plays Success Rate | 0.354 | 40 | 0.457 | 37 |
Passing Plays Explosiveness | 1.547 | 56 | 1.638 | 33 |
Major takeaways from this:
Both teams have gotten solid play from the offensive lines, but Ohio State’s defensive line stands out.
The Buckeyes have a huge edge in explosiveness and success rate (plays that gain half the yardage needed for a first down on first or second down and all the yards needed on third or fourth down) on offense as well.
Neither team has been good in short-yardage, but the Washington offense is a little better at avoiding runs for zero or negative yards (measured by stuff rate)
Washington has just an average havoc rate on offense (39th), which means they have allowed some tackles for loss, turnovers and pass break-ups, while the Ohio State offense is 12th, and Matt Patricia’s defense stands out as well.
The Buckeyes have the advantage in pass play success rate, but Washington has been more explosive through the air.
NOTE: I created the table and the header image in this post with AI using Google Workspace, and I have joined the Google Workspace Referral Program. If you’re interested in checking out their tools, click the button below (and I could receive compensation):
On defense, Ohio State has the advantage in success rate, but Washington is respectable at 25th, and the teams are even in explosiveness.
Ohio State has been better at preventing big plays than Washington, and both teams are good at limiting second-level yards (runs that gain between 5 and 10 yards) and open-field yards (10 or more).
Of course, it will come down to the Jimmy’s and the Joes more than anything, but this should give us a better feel for how each team wants to play and what it has done so far against its schedule.
1 I am not really big on analytics overall, but I do appreciate a chance to look at some things on a more granular level. Stuff like success rate, which tells you if a team gained five yards on first down, half the yards to gain on second down and all the yards to gain on third down, is useful. As is explosiveness because stringing together drives all day is typically difficult. So while some advanced stats involve complicated formulas that try to distill a team down into one number that may or may not mean anything, these are the types of things I like to help me judge for myself.