CLEVELAND, Ohio - Jim Tressel would be proud of the 2017 Ohio State Buckeyes.

He's the former OSU coach who - while attempting to drive home a point - famously like to quote an old coaching line, that the punt is the most important play in football.

The Buckeyes are No. 1 in the country in one punting category - the nation's only major college team not to permit a punt return this season.

The average punt returns allowed is 8.5 among the 129 Football Bowl Subdivision schools. Boston College has permitted the most returns, 19.

Yet after 20 Ohio State punts through seven games, not a single punt has been returned against the Buckeyes. According to play-by-play accounts:

10 ended in fair catches.

5 were downed by the Buckeyes.

4 went out of bounds.

1 went into the end zone, resulting in a touchback.

Ohio State, however, isn't quite as high in net yards per punt.

At 41.6 net yards per punt, OSU ranks 16th nationally. Texas is No. 1 at 44.8.

Drue Chrisman has averaged 42.6 yards on his 20 punts. The net average of 41.6 is calculated after subtracting 20 yards because of the one touchback.

Ohio State's 20 punts rank eighth fewest in the NCAA, where the range is from 10 for Oklahoma State in six games to 53 for Boston College in seven games.

Among other statistics where the Buckeyes rank high nationally this week, according to the NCAA:

First in first downs with 29.9 per game.

Second in yards at 577.3 per game (Oklahoma State is first at 610.7).

Third in scoring offense with 47.3 points per game (UCF is first at 50.6).

Third in kickoff returns at 30.6 yards per return (Penn State is first at 30.9).

Sixth in tackles for a loss at 8.3 per game (Wake Forest is first at 9.2).

Seventh in third-down conversions at 49.4 percent (TCU is first at 56.7 percent).

First in TD passes for J.T. Barett with 21 (West Virginia's Will Grier also has 21).

Fourth in passing efficiency for Barrett at 173.8 (Oklahoma's Baker Mayfield is first at 207.3).

Fifth in yards per carry for J.K. Dobbins at 7.75 (Stanford's Bryce Love is first at 10.27).

Buckeye Numbers is a weekly feature 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.