Ohio State lost a lot of players to the NFL at the end of last season, 14 total drafted to be exact, just one shy of an NFL draft record. But as they say, programs like the Buckeyes don’t rebuild, they reload, and that should be pretty close to correct for OSU in 2025. In fact, according to ESPN’s SP+, Ohio State is rated as the No. 1 team heading into the fall.
However, if you look at what the Buckeyes lost, it might not be as easy as some believe. If Ohio State is going to be a Big Ten and College Football Playoff contender, it’ll have to overcome being near the bottom of the league and pretty far down the national scale in returning production.
ESPN recently dropped its Big Ten preview, and used metrics to rank Big Ten teams in their returning production both in the conference and nationally, and Ohio State is quite far down the list, further down than I can remember in a long time, and it’s at key positions. Ohio State will be ushering in a new quarterback, a brand new backfield, and an overhauled defensive line, just to name a few areas of concern. Again, the thought is that the talent and at least some experience are still there, but this team is far from the experienced one we saw last season.
So, where exactly is Ohio State ranked in returning production? In the Big Ten, the Buckeyes land at No. 14 with 48% returning production according to ESPN. Nationally, the Buckeyes are No. 92, much closer to the bottom of the total number of FBS teams, at 136. Illinois has the most returning production in the league, followed by Rutgers and Wisconsin.
Here’s a look at each Big Ten team and where they rank in returning production, both in the Big Ten and nationally.
| Team | Returning Production | National Rank |
| 1. Illinois | 75% | 4 |
| 2. Rutgers | 71% | 8 |
| 3. Wisconsin | 67% | 12 |
| 4. Michigan State | 66% | 16 |
| 5. Michigan | 65% | 24 |
| 6. Penn State | 65% | 25 |
| 7. Indiana | 62% | 38 |
| 8. Nebraska | 61% | 42 |
| 9. Northwestern | 60% | 47 |
| 10. Iowa | 56% | 63 |
| 11. Minnesota | 52% | 78 |
| 12. Washington | 52% | 79 |
| 13. USC | 50% | 87 |
| 14. Ohio State | 48% | 92 |
| 15. UCLA | 45% | 100 |
| 16. Oregon | 43% | 104 |
| 17. Maryland | 42% | 107 |
| 18. Purdue | 42% | 108 |
It’s always interesting to see how experienced teams that aren’t generally near the top of the Big Ten do during the season, but if you simply take that into account, you would think that Illinois or Rutgers could surprise some folks this year. We’ll see if that happens.
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This article originally appeared on Buckeyes Wire: Ohio State football near bottom of Big Ten in returning production