In a Season Where The Team Has Rallied Together, Many Ohio State Buckeyes Are Putting Their Names in the History Books.

Many Buckeyes Are Hovering Around All-Time Marks

The Ohio State Buckeyes have shifted their focus to Notre Dame after three impressive victories over Tennessee, Oregon, and Texas. The Scarlet and Gray will be playing in Atlanta Monday night, with the ultimate team goal on the line.

While the team has been the focus ever since the senior class decided to come back for their final year, there have been plenty of individual accomplishments and statistical marks worth noting.

On both sides of the ball, many players are having career years and boosting their draft stock. Let’s take a look at some of the marks the Buckeyes are hitting, and how they are filling up the scarlet and gray history books.

The Offense Has Been Humming With Everyone Getting Involved

The Ohio State offense has put up 42, 41, and 28 points in their three playoff games and will look to replicate that against another outstanding defense. All of the individual player stats have been uplifted slightly with the extra games in the playoff format, but the numbers are impressive nonetheless.

Quarterback Will Howard has absolutely crushed his career-bests in a plethora of categories. He now sits just 221 passing yards away from 4,000 on the season. With C.J. Stroud and Dwayne Haskins’ totals out of reach, Howard has already cemented himself as the third-best passing season yards-wise in Buckeye history. He passed Stroud’s 2022 season against Texas and will look to improve that mark in his final collegiate game.

Both TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins won’t be catching the top rushing yards seasons in Ohio State history. That was never a fair goal given the amount of touches they share. However, both will likely pass the 1,000-yard mark in the National Championship. Henderson needs just 33 rushing yards, with Judkins needing 40 to eclipse the mark. Both have been crucial to the offense and their importance to the success of the team will not go unnoticed. This is also a testament to the Buckeyes revamped offensive line, which has battled through injuries and opened lanes for them to run through.

TreVeyon Henderson sits at 3,712 career rushing yards which is 5th all-time at Ohio State. He needs 57 yards to pass Eddie George and move up to 4th place. Henderson also has the 3rd highest single-game rushing total with 277 rushing yards in 2021 against Tulsa. One more stat that shows Henderson’s important legacy with the Buckeyes is that he has 42 career rushing touchdowns which is 6th all-time. A rushing touchdown in the National Championship would bump him up to a three-way tie for 4th place with Ezekiel Elliott and J.T. Barrett. A two-touchdown outing would tie him for 3rd place with Eddie George.

Emeka Egbuka sits at 199 career receptions and needs just three more to pass K.J. Hill’s program record. Egbuka has 75 catches on the year which sits at 5th all-time, needing three receptions to pass Marvin Harrison Jr. and move to 4th all-time. An outburst of 11 receptions would land him in 3rd, passing David Boston. Egbuka also sits in 3rd for career receiving yards, with 2,804. He needs 52 yards to move to 2nd and pass David Boston, with 95 yards helping him pass Michael Jenkins for the all-time program record. 

Emeka Egbuka had a stellar 1,151 receiving yards during the 2022 campaign which put him at 7th all-time for a single season, with his current teammate passing him this season. Egbuka’s 24 career receiving touchdowns have him in a tie for 7th right now with Brian Robiskie. One more would tie him for 6th with Santonio Holmes, and three touchdowns would tie him for 5th with Cris Carter. Lastly, Egbuka’s three-touchdown explosion against Iowa this year put him in a large tie for 5th all-time for touchdown receptions in a game.

Speaking of receptions, freshman Jeremiah Smith has an outstanding 71 receptions and needs three more to move into a three-way tie for 6th in Buckeye history for catches in a season. This includes Emeka Egbuka’s 2022 season, and Smith might catch his teammate’s current season if he records four more receptions than his teammate. Smith also has 1,227 receiving yards on the year which is the 5th most in a season. 37 yards against Notre Dame would help him leap Marvin Harrison Jr.’s 2022 campaign. Terry Glenn’s 1,411 receiving yards in 1995 would be the next mark he would need to reach with one game remaining, meaning another Oregon-like performance. 

The 184 yards he would need is something we have seen before, as his 187 in the Rose Bowl duel with Oregon were in a three-way tie for the 10th-most in a single game in program history. The talented freshman also has 14 touchdowns on the season, putting him up there with the greats. He is in a four-way tie for 2nd, with Terry Glenn’s 17 holding the top spot.

The Defense Has Proved to Be an All-Time Great and Game-Changing

Jack Sawyer made the play of his life last game and now has 23 sacks in his Buckeyes career. He is tied for 6th all-time in sacks for a career, with two sacks against Notre Dame potentially moving him to a tie for 5th. Sawyer needs one sack against the Fighting Irish to have an even 10 on the year.

JT Tuimoloau always seems to step up in big games, and that is proof with his 22.5 career sacks putting him right behind Sawyer tied for 8th all-time. Based on what Sawyer does in his final game, he has the potential to move up to as high as 5th place. His impressive 11.5 sacks this season are the 7th-most in a single season, and half a sack would tie him for 5th place. A two-sack outing would leap JTT into a tie for 3rd with Joey Bosa.

Linebackers Cody Simon and Sonny Styles have made huge plays for the Silver Bullets all season long as well. Simon has 104 total tackles after eclipsing 100 against the Longhorns. Styles would hit the century mark with six tackles in the season finale after his nine-tackle outing against Texas.

All of these accomplishments are remarkable and something each player should be proud of. However, I’m sure they would throw all the records out the window to hoist the National Championship trophy when it’s all said and done. They will have the chance to write their names in the record books yet again Monday night with a victory over the Fighting Irish in Atlanta.