Over the years, I've found it interesting in CFB that narratives can be created if you just say them enough times(much like in politics). And they're almost always having to do with the previous year, and people act like teams don't change from year to year(players graduate, coaches move on, etc). We all have heard: OSU didn't have "SEC" speed was a classic one, OSU couldn't beat SEC teams was another, now the narrative is that OSU is soft and can't run the ball. The main example of this is the scUM game last year. Yes, the team got bent over in front of the country, and didn't perform much better in the Rose Bowl(though that was a W). Now with the recent inability to run effectively against an Iowa team who everyone knows has a horrendous offense, but has one of the best defenses in the country(and obviously sold out to stop the run). OSU is #2 in the country and is averaging 5.6yds/car and has 17TDs(and also has 29 passing TDs). I'll compare them with their counterparts in the SEC, since everyone knows they're best conference ever created
UGA- 5.6yds/car 24TDs, 11 passing TDs
Tenn- 4.6yds/car 23Tds, 23 passing TDs
Bama(I'll use them as a comparison since they will continually be the class of CFB)- 6yds/car 17TDs, 23 passing TDs
If you throw in the other teams in the top 5(Clemson and scUM), you see 2 very flawed teams
Clemson- 4.5yds/car 18TDs, 18 passing TDs
scUM- 5.6yds/car 24TDs, 11 passing TDs
I'd still say that OSU has the most dynamic offense in CFB. And I'm not much of a homer, I'll admit if other teams are better at something, and the numbers don't always tell the full story. But if you took names out, OSU is the most balanced, and has a 1 games outlier for rushing as does every other team in the top 5. But OSU doesn't get the same benefit of the doubt. Miss St held Bama to 29yds rushing last week, which is the lowest output they've had all season, yet that's not mentioned. And a game before, the same Miss St team allowed 239yds rushing. Mike Leach isn't known as being some defensive mastermind either. UGA has always been known as a smashmouth, run first offense, and they had their lowest rushing output to freaking Samford(not Stanford, the small private school in Birmingham, AL), 127yds. Tenn had 91yds rushing against Pitt, again another team who they should've run all over. Clemson has easily the worst rushing offense of the top 5 teams, and outside of their rushing explosions against LA Tech and Syracuse, their rushing attack has floundered in the mid 100s. scUM is really setup as a poor man's UGA, a run first team solely. scUM has little balance, if they have a big game passing, then the run game suffers and vice versa. I'm sure every analyst will breakdown every team that OSU and scUM has played, but OSU still has the more balanced offense. Against Iowa, scUM had 172yds, 4.1yds/car 2TDs, which indeed was better than OSU's 66yds 2.2yds/car and 1TD. But OSU had the arm of CJ Stroud to power the offense with 294yds 4TDs, to McCarthy's 155yds 1TD. The balance is on OSU's side. Tomorrow will be interesting for both, as OSU utterly dismantled MSU in passing and running, while scUM was only dominant in the run column against Ped St.
Out of the teams mentioned, OSU only plays scUM at the end of the season. But it's looking more and more each week, that the strategy will be to do everything to slow Corum, and make McCarthy have to win with his arm. Something no team has been able to do, but they haven't played a team as talented as OSU(and the same can be said on the other side). But I don't see any of those SEC teams being so much more dominant than OSU, and OSU is the only team I've seen that's a pick your poison offense, which is going to be a nightmare for opposing DCs
