Statistically, Ohio State is the Worst Team Florida Played All Year

You read that correctly.

And it's true. Ohio State managed a total of 82 yards of offense. Troy Smith was 4-14 for 35 yards, a fumble, and an interception. Through no direct fault of his own, he was also sacked five times.

This is going to hurt, Buckeye fans: that's only 23 yards more than the Division I-AA Catamounts managed against Florida. Yes, the same team which Florida was taken to task for playing, as a cupcake. At least Western Carolina's quarterback played better -- Andy Horn, the Catamounts' starting QB, was 5-12 for 35 yards. Same passing total, better completion percentage.

Yep. Horn outplayed Mr. Heisman, uh, I mean, Mr. Smith. Somebody send that kid a box of donuts.

Ohio State managed one offensive touchdown against Florida. One. And they never came remotely close to getting within range for a score again.

Same story for Southern Miss, a C-USA team which Florida beat 34-7. They offered stiffer competition than the Bucks.

Those Golden Eagles managed 17 first downs and put up 295 yards against the Gators. So it doesn't appear to even be close: had Southern Miss somehow found its way into a game with Ohio State, they likely would have smashed them. I'm sure that SMQ is pleased about that.

Central Florida? The Gators beat them 42-0, and UCF didn't accomplish much of anything this year in the C-USA. But at least UCF QB Steven Moffett managed a 14-32 performance passing for 100 yards, and he didn't turn the ball over.

UCF was also better on third and fourth down conversions. Statistically they were as tough or tougher than the Buckeyes in most categories, but the Gators racked up 637 yards against the Golden Knights. Ouch.

Conference opponents? No need to get into those. Every one of those teams, including Kentucky, Alabama, and Vanderbilt, fielded far better squads than Ohio State on the day they played Florida. I could whip out the stats, but then Buck fans would accuse me of "running up the score." Trust me, it wouldn't be pretty.

Ohio State was 1-9 on 3rd down conversions. That is the worst 3rd-down efficiency performance of any team Florida played this year.

The Bucks also batted zero on 4th down attempts. Tressel's hopeless and misguided attempt to spark his team on 4th-and-1 inside his own thirty cost Ohio State points.

Ohio State rushed 23 times for an average gain of 2.0 yards per carry. The math on that is pretty simple: the stats show a rushing total of 47 yards for the Bucks. The Gators ran the ball 43 times for a 3.6 YPC average, but that total is dragged down by the clock-killing Florida set out to do with methodical precision in the 4th quarter. Florida seemed to get 4-5 yards at will on the ground all night long.

Ohio State turned the ball over twice. Florida always protected the pigskin. Chris Leak's decisions were always good, always conservative; he threw the ball away at the first sign of pressure and suffered only one sack.

Ohio State was lucky to get away with a -2 differential. There were at least two dropped balls by Florida defensive backs which would have been an interception -- Ryan Smith had two hands on the ball at one point -- and would have made Troy Smith's awful night even more miserable.

Finally, Florida completely dominated in time of possession, holding the ball for 40:48 vs. Ohio State's 19:12.

I believe I used the words "My God!" when I first looked at the stats. Even now it takes my breath away.

Now it's time to make something clear.

I know the Bucks aren't that bad.

I know they didn't play their best game.

But at the same time, Florida would have beaten these Bucks 10 out of 10 tries. Florida's defense was smothering. Their offense was efficient. Their attack was balanced. Their coaching was second-to-none.

Gators won the day. Ohio State did nothing to help their cause, but a win was never in the cards.

The primary reason Ohio State played so poorly was because Florida was just that good.