Breaking down Ohio State's actually perfect deep passing attack: "I love taking shots more than anybody"
The Buckeyes' deep shot success this season is ridiculous. Can they increase the frequency after a down deep ball year in 2024?
COLUMBUS — Ryan Day says Ohio State’s goal on deep balls is 50 percent success. The Buckeyes are a little ahead of that pace this season, three games in.
They’re 9 of 9. That’s 100 percent.
No wonder Day couldn’t stop talking about it Tuesday when the topic of deep shots was broached.
“I love taking shots more than anybody,” Day said.
He might love it more than anybody. But he doesn’t do it more than anybody.
Ohio State’s deep passing attack as a percentage of its offense plunged to a Day era low last season, and this season isn’t much better.
(This might not be an actual discussion about Ohio State winning football games. The Buckeyes ran it like crazy last season, and when they needed to clinch the national title game against Notre Dame, Will Howard dropped a deep ball into the hands of Jeremiah Smith for a 56-yard gain in the final minutes.)
In terms of overall number of plays, deep passes (20 yards or more in the air) accounted for 4.8 percent of Ohio State’s offense last season. This season isn’t much more, at 4.9 percent. That’s down from a high of 2019, when 7.3 percent of overall offensive plays were deep shots with Justin Fields chucking it to Chris Olave and others.
Percentage of OSU offensive plays that are deep passes
2019: 7.3 percent
2022: 7.0
2021: 6.8
2018: 6.4
2023: 5.8
2020: 5.6
2017: 5.6
2025: 4.9
2024: 4.8
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