Fourteen games in, Ohio State's offense has snapped the ball 870 times.
In terms of raw snaps, that places the Buckeyes near the middle in FBS -- 58th, to be exact. But of the 19 teams that played 14 or more games in 2024, the Buckeyes are 18th in total snaps -- fewer than every other College Football Playoff semifinalist, fewer than clock-killing Army, more only than Miami (Ohio).
Not only that, this is the slowest of Ryan Day's eight offenses at Ohio State. As the chart below shows, it's the continuation of an overall trend -- since 2018, every season has been slower than the last. But this is the same team and same coach who led the nation in total snaps in '18, and an offensive coordinator in Chip Kelly who revolutionized offense in the late 2000s and early 2010s in large part by snapping the ball faster and more than everyone else.
Ohio State's opponent on Friday night has a theory. "They're scoring so fast," Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said Thursday, half joking and half serious. "They've been extremely explosive offensively."
There is some truth to that. Ohio State snapped the ball 64 times in the College Football Playoff first-round against Tennessee, gaining 473 yards (7.4 a pop) and scoring 42 points in the process. The Buckeyes opened that game with two 5-play touchdown drives, and four of their six touchdowns came from outside the red zone.
Against Oregon in the Rose Bowl, Ohio State gained 500 yards on 57 plays. Their four first-half touchdowns covered 45, 42, 43 and 66 yards.
While scoring from distance is certainly part of the plan, Ohio State's crawl-ball offense was born out of two goals. The first was a common one: to win this year's national title, Ohio State will have to play 16 games.
"Part of it was, we felt like by cutting down the number of snaps, it would certainly help with the length of the season and the health of our team," Day said.
The other benefit was one Ohio State discovered along the way.
"Getting in a huddle and having Will Howard look 10 guys in the eye, break the huddle, kind of grew as the season went on. It was a little bit of a part that we felt gave us a little bit of an edge. We broke the huddle together. It's almost like going back in time, but it's sort of a new thing, really," Day said.
While Howard is an ultra-experienced college quarterback -- Friday will be his 43rd start -- it's still his first year at Ohio State. Hundreds of hours on the practice field together, thousands of routes on air through the spring and summer, all of that is important, but at best it's simply an imitation of what it's actually like when the lights are on and the play clock is ticking.
So, Ohio State has found that, especially with an offensive line that has been re-shuffled due to injury, having lost two starters including veteran center Seth McLaughlin, more time together in the heat of the moment has allowed the Buckeyes to get more out of the plays they run.
"As time went on the guys felt more and more comfortable together and broke that huddle as a team, as a group, as a unit," Day said. "I think that helped us. We don't always do it, but it has allowed us to be more cohesive on offense."