Favored by 30 entering the game, Ohio State nearly doubled the spread as they once again torched a miserable Rutgers squad, 56-0, behind 364 total yards and three scores from J.T. Barrett who became the school's all-time leading passer, among other offensive heroes, and a dominant effort from the Buckeye defense.
Mike Weber added three scores of his own as Demario McCall and Johnnie Dixon each found the end zone twice against what was statistically the nation's 24th-best total defense as part of a 628 yard offensive outburst.
Meanwhile, the defense held Rutgers to 209 total yards and just 92 through the air via a dismal 41% completion rate.
The win moves Ohio State to 4-1 overall (2-0 B1G) and sets up what should be another lopsided affair as the Buckeyes welcome Maryland to the Shoe for an afternoon kick next Saturday.
Before we dive in to all things Terps, here are Five Things from Ohio State's thrashing of Rutgers.
MAKE THE MCCALL
Sophomore Demario McCall didn't play in Ohio State's first three games thanks to a lingering sports hernia but finally saw the field – albeit briefly– last week against UNLV posting one catch for 16 yards along with punt and kickoff return duty.
During his short stint against the Rebels it was clear he still wasn't himself and Urban Meyer said as much this past week.
Though Meyer still noted McCall isn't yet 100%, the running back lit up Rutgers with 103 rushing yards and a touchdown on 9.4 yards per carry while adding another score through the air as he hauled in a well-placed ball from Dwayne Haskins on a 35-yard wheel route.
| TOUCH | NUMBER | YARDS | AVG YDS PER |
|---|---|---|---|
| RUSH | 60 | 373 | 6.2 |
| REC | 6 | 135 | 22.5 |
Beyond McCall's 138 total yards and two touchdowns, the bigger callout was that despite still not being of optimal health, he looked much more comfortable taking on hits and even lowered his shoulder to deliver a blow against a defensive back after looking extremely tentative the week prior.
As McCall inches closer to being full go it will be interesting to see if Meyer and Kevin Wilson will get more serious about finding touches for the playmaker, including coming to grips with the fact McCall should get more looks at the H-back slot.
McCall's hands can't be any more unreliable than Parris Campbell's and McCall also provides a greater ability to create rushing touches for the H-back. That's not an intended knock on Campbell, it's just that McCall can hurt you in more ways than one with his elusiveness and touches at tailback could be limited if Mike Weber's hamstring is finally 100%.
Bottom line, a healthy McCall deserves a few touches per game to see if he can shake something loose whether it be via the run or pass.
HEre'S JOHNNIE
Entering the game with 113 receiving yards on the season, redshirt junior Johnnie Dixon abused a nicked up Rutgers secondary as he tied his career-high with three catches and set a new career-best with 115 yards including a pair of scores.
Like many, I've never been bullish on Dixon, even after all the hype back in March and April culminated in a spectacular spring game, but due all the bad luck he's had with knee injuries, I find him incredibly easy to root for.
As such, it was fantastic to see the West Palm Beach product post scoring strikes of 70 and 39 yards, featuring some fancy footwork along the left sideline taboot.
Forced to sit out the Army tilt due to injury, Dixon now has 228 receiving yards and four touchdowns through four appearances this year after posting seven catches for 55 yards over the last two seasons combined.
I'm not sure what it says about the top end of Ohio State's receiving corps that Dixon leads the team with those four touchdown catches and ranks second in yards but again, I can pull for this guy all day long.
AND YOU STEP TO THE LINE
Facing the nation's 111th-ranked total offense, it's not shocking Ohio State pitched a shutout but that doesn't mean we can't throw some love toward the defensive line.
Anchoring a Silver Bullets edition that still isn't lights out across the back seven, especially against the pass (despite the stat lines in recent weeks), Ohio State's defensive line continued its dominant ways.
The group set the tone on the opening possession as Tracy Sprinkle made a play for no gain on first down, Sam Hubbard did the same on second down, and Nick Bosa got pressure on the quarterback on third down resulting in a hurried throwaway.
Bosa was back at it on the ensuing series as he again got pressure on third down to force an incompletion.
The next time the defense took the field, Sprinkle tipped a 2nd-and-11 pass deep inside the red zone leading to a Dante Booker interception.
It was more of the same the rest of the half as names like Robert Landers, Hubbard and Jalyn Holmes, among others, consistently pushed back the offensive line and/or set the edge to stymie an already limited Rutgers attack.
As Ohio State headed into the locker room sporting a 35-0 lead, the defensive line helped pave the way for six total TFL, two hurries, a forced fumble, four 3-and-outs and an interception on seven Scarlet Knights possessions.
Rutgers managed just 77 yards in the opening half on 2.7 yards per rush and 4 of 13 passing from Kyle Bolin and Johnathan Lewis.
WARD OF THE STATE
Clearly the class of Ohio State's pass defense, Denzel Ward isn't seeing a ton of balls thrown his way these days especially with the struggles we've witnessed from fellow corner Kendall Sheffield, the cumulative linebackers (who were better tonight - I see you Malik Harrison, snuffing out that screen), and to a lesser degree, the safeties.
Still, when Ward's had his chances he has largely come up aces and last night was more of the same.
Ward did his thing in the first half tallying a pair of well-timed pass breakups including one on a deep shot while adding a TFL as he stayed home on a 1st-and-10 play just before Booker's interception.
Through five games, Ward now has 10 passes defensed and one interception as the anchor of a secondary largely still finding its way in spots two through five.
Enjoy him while you can because he'll be playing on Sundays next fall.
a flag issue (no, not that flag issue)
Ohio State entered the Rutgers contest as the nation's 72nd-least penalized team racking up 6.8 accepted flags per game.
If 6.8 wasn't bad enough, the undisciplined Buckeyes racked up another 10 accepted penalties against the Scarlet Knights.
Again, that number would've been even higher if declined penalties were included in the total.
Here's sampling of the flags Ohio State earned last night before my pen ran out of ink:
- 1. Holding on Marcus Baugh wipes out a 9-yard run from J.T. Barrett on 3rd-and-10, setting up a 3rd-and-20 on Ohio State's opening possession.
- 2. Denzel Ward is flagged for a block in the back on the first Rutgers punt of the night negating a decent return from K.J. Hill.
- 3. Tyquan Lewis kicked off Ohio State's second defensive series by jumping offsides giving Rutgers a 1st-and-5.
- 4. Jerome Baker ran into the kicker – and was fairly lucky it wasn't called a personal foul – on 4th-and-8.
- 5. Jamarco Jones false started on the very first play following Baker's penalty though it didn't hurt the Buckeyes since the drive was already set to start from the OSU 2-yard line.
- 6. Nick Bosa jumped offside on 2nd-and-12 giving Rutgers a more manageable 2nd-and-7 which of course they eventually parlayed into a turnover because, Buttgers.
- 7. Isaiah Prince was flagged for not being on the line of scrimmage but the penalty was declined due to an incomplete pass.
- 8. Johnnie Dixon earned an offensive pass interference call as he clearly pushed off before hauling in what amounted to a negated 67-yard touchdown catch.
- 9. Terry McLaurin pulled the rare feat of receiving two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on one play as he was first whistled for an alleged cheap shot on a crackback block as J.T. Barrett jogged out of bounds before he then taunted the dude he destroyed. McLaurin's play backed up the Buckeyes from the Rutgers 15 to the Rutgers 45.
- 10. Who knows. Like I said, I stopped writing them down from there. It was frustrating to tally plus the score was like 150-0 at that point.
Regardless of the one-sided view on the scoreboard, it's time Meyer and the Buckeyes get serious about cleaning up the penalties as Ohio State now ranks 98th out of 130 teams with 7.4 per game. These mistakes may not matter against the likes of clown-shows like Rutgers and UNLV but that won't be the case against squads like Penn State and others down the line.
