Here is a statistical oddity that probably matters

Vili Leveni makes a play against Iowa State (USATSI)

As I was doing a little research on which duo I wanted to pick for this poll I came across this wild statistical oddity:

OSU’s net points per drive (the points per drive it scored less the points per drive it gave up) was the exact same in 2012 and 2013.

Look (you can see the full data here):

2012: 1.08 points (15th in the nation)
2013: 1.08 points (19th in the nation)

So why was OSU’s record 8-5 in 2012 and 10-3 in 2013? Because of that word Eddie used to print on the back side of OSU’s practice shorts.

2012

Offense: 3.01 points per drive (11th in the nation)
Defense: 1.93 points per drive (46th in the nation)

2013

Offense: 2.38 points per drive (45th in the nation)
Defense: 1.29 points per drive (5th in the nation)

This year’s net number so far is 0.72 which is good for 29th overall in the country. The weird part? The offense is no worse than last season.

Here’s how it breaks down:

2014

Offense: 2.35 points per drive (47th in the nation)
Defense: 1.63 points per drive (32nd in the nation)

I think what all of this says is that defense wins games and OSU’s defense in 2013 was incredibly special.

Yes, a better offense would help but even when touching that 3 points per drive mark in 2012 (an elite number) OSU only got to seven regular season wins.

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