Rutgers Debriefing: Mike Weber's Career Day, Robert Landers Gouges Rutgers' O-Line & Matthew Burrell Finishes His Block

Ohio State entered Saturday coming off an open week following a huge road win against Oklahoma. It seemed like the perfect storm for a hangover game.

Actually, it probably was the perfect storm for a hangover game. It took the Buckeyes nearly 25 minutes to score double digits and Rutgers was "in the game" most of the first half.

Here's the thing though – it didn't really matter that it was a hangover game because Ohio State is that good at football and Rutgers is that ungood.

Even if the game was close at the beginning, the talent disparity was evident and striking; the Buckeyes were never going to lose that game.

In my humble and honest opinion, every player on the Ohio State roster could have woken up 30 minutes before the game and hung 45 on the Fighting Chris Ash's.

So yeah. It was close for a while, sure. But then again, was it?

The Short Story

The Buckeyes, though they were never in any real danger, admittedly got off to a slow start. It took the team nearly 25 minutes to break double-digits, but then just five minutes to make the lead 30. J.T. Barrett exploded late in the second quarter and the rest of the offense followed suit for the remainder of the game. The defense, despite forcing no turnovers and scoring no points, was stifling. The Silver Bullets pitched their first shutout of the season and the Buckeyes rolled 58-0.

Who Earned a Buckeye Leaf?

Offense: Mike Weber

Through his first three games, it seemed like once a quarter Mike Weber was brought down by a shoe-string tackle on what looked like it would be a long touchdown run. The skill set was obviously there, but Weber had yet to hit a home-run.

Saturday, he finally broke free – twice.

His first long run came in the first quarter. Weber found a hole in the middle and came face-to-face with a safety whom he promptly juked out with a quick jump cut. Weber then exploded to the 22-yard-line where he was forced out of bounds.

The 49-yard run is the longest of Weber's young Buckeye career, but it still didn't result in a score – a long touchdown run still eluded him. Early in the third quarter, however, he got it.

Weber finished the game with a career-high 144 rushing yards, giving him his third 100-yard rushing game in four games.

Not a bad start to a career at all.

Defense: Nick Bosa

The ball-hawking secondary hawked significantly fewer balls this week – none to be exact. This opened the door for someone down in the trenches to be appreciated and that person is none other than freshman Nick Bosa.

Bosa played the bulk of the second half and recorded four tackles – nearly doubling his season total – as well as one sack.

Of course, much of Bosa's contributions came after the outcome of the game was long decided, but it was still fun to see the talent disparity between Rutgers' reserve players and Ohio State's, because it was evident.

Plays of the Game

Offense

J.T. Barrett now holds the Ohio State record for most career touchdown passes, passing Bobby Hoying with 58 touchdowns. His record-tying pass was perhaps the best throw and catch of the night, even despite the historic implications.

Barrett found Terry McClaurin on a fade route, threw him a beautiful pass and McClaurin pulled it down despite the defensive pass interference.

The record breaking touchdown pass from Barrett was also the first touchdown of McClaurin's career. Perhaps they can cut the ball in half?

Defense

In a shocking turn of events, the Silver Bullets did not score on Saturday. In fact, the Buckeye defense did not even force a turnover.

This would be something to complain about except it's literally impossible to lose a game when the other team scores zero points. So they'll get a pass this week.

Instead of your usual ball-hawking, hard-hitting, touchdown scoring plays of the game, we shift our focus to the trenches where Robert Landers ruined Rutgers' interior offensive line.

The defensive tackle position was one of the biggest question marks before the season and continues to be a concern moving forward, but with Landers making plays like this I'd say this is a mighty fine weakest link.

Biggest Surprise

After Noah Brown's touchdown party against Oklahoma, many expected him to be the team's primary target moving forward. Saturday, that wasn't necessarily the case. Barrett targeted Brown just twice on the day, completing just one pass for 15 yards.

Instead, the wealth was distributed among many of the young receivers. Parris Campbell caught four passes for 36 yards, Terry McClaurin caught his first-career touchdown pass – even tight end Marcus Baugh got in on the action catching a 16-yard touchdown pass himself.

It's a good sign that the passing offense does not need to focus on one player to be successful, but it was a bit of a surprise following the Oklahoma game.

Jim Tressel's Least Favorite Moment

Saturday morning, Jim Tressel put on his reading glasses and glanced at the screen of his Nokia 6650 to see a SMS message providing fantastic news – Cameron Johnston, his favorite Buckeye of the Urban Meyer era, would be speaking to the crowd at the pregame Skull Session. Surely, this was a good omen for what was to come later that afternoon.

Tressel watched the entire game with an exuberant hope – a hope that was crushed little by little every series that did not end in a punt. The clock hit zero, and the game ended without even a pooch-punt.

Crushed, Tressel brewed a fresh pot of black tea and took solace in the Wisconsin vs. Michigan matchup – now that is football.

BIGGEST BLUNDER

Ohio State appeared to be headed to towards a second touchdown on the day when Noah Brown was flagged for offensive pass interference, pushing the Buckeyes back outside of the red-zone. Ohio State would have to settle for a field goal.

This pretty much sums up the game – probably the worst thing the Buckeyes did all game was get three points instead of six, once.

Spectator Quote Book

First Quarter

• "Is he wearing a fedora? That's adorable!"
• "Texas is most certainly not back."
• "I would usually feel bad for not wanting to be here, but I'm fairly certain the team wants to be here less than I do, so we're all on the same page."

Second Quarter

• "I've never seen a student section more apathetic for a game in my life."
• "HEY. MEGAN. HEY. HEY. HEY. MEGAN. PLEASE. WAVE TO ME. PLEASE JUST WAVE. MEGAN. MEGAN." Megan did not immediately respond to the request for her to wave.

Third Quarter

• "I was apathetic when it was a close game, I don't even have words to describe whatever I feel now."
• "Is Chris Ash sure?"

Fourth Quarter

• "I"m leaving an Ohio State football game early so I don't miss the start of the Michigan game."
• "No, seriously. I'm leaving. Can you move?"

Underrated Moment

Late in the fourth quarter, redshirt freshman Matthew Burrell entered the game at guard and immediately announced his arrival to the Rutgers defensive line.

Burrell was the lead blocker as a pulling left guard and he drove some poor Rutgers linebacker nearly 10 yards back and to the turf.

I believe you refer to that as "finishing the drill."

It Was Over When

J.T. Barrett slung three touchdowns – including one to tie and one to break the school record for career touchdowns – in just five minutes to end the first half.

Realistically, Ohio State could have won this game 3-0. Despite a slow start, the Buckeyes were never in any real danger. But once Barrett got going it was absolutely lights out for the Scarlet Knights.

Biggest Question Going Forward

Who's going to catch the ball? Noah Brown appeared to set himself apart as the primary receiving threat with his breakout game against Oklahoma only to catch a single pass in his next appearance.

Are we going to see the ball spread out among the arsenal of weapons or are we going to see Brown take over the field again?