Ohio State football: How much does experience matter?

The former is a resounding yes while the latter remains to be seen.

A comparison of starting lineups at Ohio State since 2001 shows the 2021 Buckeyes to be the youngest in that timespan.

Whether or not that will or should prevent Day’s team from winning a fifth straight Big Ten title or returning to the College Football Playoff is a little trickier to tease out of the numbers.

“I think in four games, you have seen a lot of progress across the board,” Day said Tuesday. “There is still a lot to be done. If we’re going to get where we want to be this season, these (young starters) will have to build. It’s not just the young guys. It’s also the older guys who maybe have not played that much.

“Putting in days of work every day is what is critical and just grinding through all of that. Here we are back in conference play, and I think we are better than where we were four weeks ago.”

To compare the age of the rosters, we assigned a number value to each class. A true freshman is a one while a redshirt freshman is a 1.5, a sophomore is a two, a third-year sophomore is a 2.5 and so on.

Using that scale, the 2021 Buckeyes scored a 62, the lowest number of any OSU team in the survey. (Note: They could get older if Harry Miller eventually becomes the starting center, but they could get younger if J.T. Tuimolau were to end up displacing a veteran at end, Tyleik Williams becomes a starter at defensive tackle, etc.)

Beyond that, the second-biggest drop from one season to the next occurred this past offseason as the 2020 team was one of the more experienced squads with a score of 74.5. That difference of 12.5 is topped only by the 14-point gap between the 2003 and ‘04 squads.

Two of the three youngest teams over the past 20 years are easily the worst of the bunch. The 2011 team had an experience score of 63, won six games and finished fourth in its division.

Those Buckeyes dealt with multiple NCAA issues, including several starters suspended for almost half the season, and lost head coach Jim Tressel before the season, so there is no doubt Luke Fickell faced a huge challenge as head coach.

The 2004 team had an experience score of 65, won eight games and finished fifth in the Big Ten, the last time Ohio State played a full season with a full-time head coach and failed to win at least 10 games.

But there is an obvious outlier among the least-experienced teams: Joining the ‘04 and ‘11 in the bottom three as far as experience is a national champion.

The 2014 Buckeyes had an experience score of 64.5 (counting J.T. Barrett as the starting quarterback) and not only won the Big Ten but the inaugural College Football Playoff.

The other Ohio State national champion of the past 20 seasons, 2002, had a score of 70, which ranks 14th, so youth is not a disqualifier from achieving the ultimate goal of any season.

The most experienced team — 2003 — did not even win the Big Ten, so experienced is not a guarantee of success — but it does seem to raise the floor for an Ohio State team since the start of the Jim Tressel era.

Of the 10 most experienced teams in the past two decades, seven finished atop the Big Ten standings (including the undefeated 2012 team that was ineligible for the conference title game) and none finished lower than third.

Of the other 10, six won or shared a conference title, but two finished fifth or worse in the Big Ten.

Then again, two from the latter group won the national championship, so this season’s story is far from written — something Day also alluded to while navigating an up-and-down September.

“In the perfect world, your older guys are the leaders and the ones who are playing,” Day said. “Sometimes when you have younger guys come in, that can change the dynamic a little bit, but that’s football. Each team has its own journey. This year we’re experiencing some of that.”

SATURDAY’S GAME

Ohio State at Rutgers, 3:30 p.m., BTN, 1410