CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Five of the last eight college football national champions led the country in fewest points allowed. That could bode well for Ohio State, which leads the nation in giving up just 8.6 points a game thus far this season.

But, in a rare double, Ohio State also leads the country in points scored -- 51 points a game heading into Saturday’s matchup with Rutgers.

A review of annual leaders published in the NCAA record book going back to 1937 found just nine times when the same school led the country in both points scored and fewest points allowed. Three won national championships -- Florida State in 1993 (AP and UPI titles), UCLA in 1954 (UPI) and Army in 1944 (AP).

However, the last school to lead the country in both was the 1999 Virginia Tech team, which lost the BCS title game to Florida State. Also not winning the title after leading the country in both were Oklahoma (1986 and 1987), Michigan (1976), Duke (1943) and Tulsa (1942).

Among scoring champions, the last to win the national title was the 2005 Texas team, which averaged 50.2 points a game.

It’s much more common for the team to lead the nation in fewest points allowed to win the national title. The five most recent teams to to do so were Alabama (2011), Alabama (2012), Florida State (2013), Alabama (2017) and Clemson (2018).

Heading into this week’s games, here are the nation’s leaders for points scored and points allowed.

Scoring

* 1. Ohio State, 51 points a game

* 2. Oklahoma 48.4 points a game.

* 3. Alabama, 47.8 points a game.

* 4. LSU, 46.7 points a game.

* 5. Clemson, 45.3 points a game.

Points allowed

* 1. Ohio State, 8.6 points a game.

* 2. Georgia, 10.1 points a game.

* 3. Clemson, 11.5 points a game.

* 4. Iowa, 11.7 points a game.

* 5. Penn State, 12 points a game.

Buckeye Numbers is a weekly feature during the football season on cleveland.com. See previous Buckeye Numbers at this link.

Rich Exner, data analysis editor for cleveland.com, writes about numbers on a variety of topics. Follow on Twitter @RichExner. See more data-related stories at cleveland.com/datacentral.

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