Advanced stats: For Ohio State-Maryland, a lot will hinge on preventing big runs

Art Pittman-USA TODAY SportsFor some teams, their record doesn’t quite match their statistical performance. But that’s not the case with Maryland, whose 5-5 record pretty much sums up their team.

They have 5.1 second-order wins and rank 55th in overall S&P+, meaning that they’re a perfectly average team. They beat Texas in Week 1 and had a huge win over Minnesota, but they also were shut out by Iowa and nearly by Michigan State. They also lost to Temple early on.

But, they do have pretty clearly defined strengths and weaknesses, which means that they should be a solid gauge of how the Buckeyes have improved (or not) — especially when it comes to stopping the run and preventing explosive plays…