One key Ohio State football stat that must improve in 2025
The Ohio State football team did a lot of good things at the end of last season. That’s pretty obvious, considering they won the national championship after the best four-game run we’ve ever seen. Still, that doesn’t mean that they played perfectly by any means.
The Buckeyes still lost two games in the regular season. They also had one big issue that plagued them all season long, not just in the losses. In fact, it’s an issue that they didn’t address in the offseason at all. It doesn’t seem to be something they’re overly concerned about
That doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be. I’m talking about the poor punting that the Ohio State Buckeyes had last year. They didn’t know who the starting punter was going to be until early in the year, and it’s not like Joe McGuire exactly lit it up with his leg.
The Ohio State football team must be better with this key punting stat in 2025
The Buckeyes were not good when it came to punting the ball. They had a net punting average of just 39 yards, which was just 67th in the NCAA. That’s right in the middle of the pack. They also punted 49 times, so it’s not like they hardly had to kick the ball away.
McGuire returns as the presumed starter, but I’m not sure he should be. Nick McLarty supposedly has a bigger leg. Could he really be that much worse? McGuire’s punts in the Spring Game weren’t very good, either. That doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence as Ohio State heads into the summer.
Ryan Day is hoping that his offense is going to be good enough that he doesn’t have to worry about punting the ball very often. While that likely will be true, that doesn’t mean that the Buckeyes shouldn’t be trying to improve in every area of the field.
It wouldn’t be surprising to see Ohio State change punters if things don’t go well early. They don’t have much to lose considering how good the rest of the talent on the team is. This is something to monitor.
