Preview: Ohio State Looks to Build on Strong Start in Home Night Game Against Rutgers

The environment certainly won’t be the same without fans in attendance, and Rutgers isn’t the marquee opponent you expect to see in a night game at the Shoe, but it will nonetheless be an opportunity for the Buckeyes to play in primetime for the second week in a row as they look to continue their strong start to the season and improve to 3-0.

RUTGERS SCARLET KNIGHTS

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7:30 P.M. – SATURDAY, NOV. 7 OHIO STADIUM COLUMBUS, OHIO

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As always, Rutgers enters the trip to Ohio State as a heavy underdog, but the Scarlet Knights have looked better so far this season than they have in other recent seasons, giving this matchup at least a little more intrigue than most of the Buckeyes’ previous games against them.

But while the Scarlet Knights will be looking to show they can finally give Ohio State some competition, Ohio State will be looking to continue its ascent toward greatness – which Ryan Day says the Buckeyes haven’t achieved yet, even after their first two wins of the year over Nebraska and Penn State.

“If we’re chasing greatness, if that’s what we really want to be, then every day we should be going after this thing, 100 miles an hour,” Day said. “And it doesn’t matter who we’re playing, it shouldn’t matter. It’s more about us. And that’s what we’re chasing right now. But we’re not there. We’re not close. So we gotta prove it.”

The Headlines

Schiano Returns to Columbus

For the first time since he was Ohio State’s defensive coordinator from 2016-18, Greg Schiano will be back at Ohio Stadium on Saturday for the third game of his second tenure as Rutgers’ head coach, where he was previously head coach from 2001-11.

With no members of the general public in the stands, we won’t get to see what kind of reaction Schiano’s return would have drawn from the crowd, though there’s no question that his tenure as the Buckeyes’ defensive coordinator remains defined by their 2018 defensive struggles in the eyes of many Ohio State fans.

Nonetheless, Schiano and many of his former Ohio State players will surely be happy to see each other again, and there’s no reason to expect anything other than a warm interaction between Day and Schiano, who were assistant coaches at Ohio State together, including when Day served as acting head coach during Urban Meyer’s suspension in 2018, before they ultimately parted ways when Day became the full-time head coach in 2019.

“A lot of respect for the way he went about his business every day,” Day said of Schiano this week. “And then when everything went down that summer leading into taking over for those first three games and the preseason, he was a huge help to me. Just a great resource. Really helped me in terms of just navigating through the preseason and the first three games, so I’m forever in debt to him for that.”

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Strides for Scarlet Knights

Over the last two years, when Rutgers didn’t win a single Big Ten game, there was no way to sugarcoat it: The Scarlet Knights were terrible. Especially last year, when the Scarlet Knights lost all of their Big Ten games by at least three touchdowns, Rutgers was a team that everyone in the conference knew it not only could beat, but could blow out.

As the powerhouse team in the Big Ten, that still might be true for Ohio State. But the Scarlet Knights have already clearly gotten better in Schiano’s first two games, beating Michigan State by 11 points before losing by only 16 points to Indiana, who is currently ranked 13th in the country.

Playing Ohio State represents another step up in competition for Schiano’s squad, and the Buckeyes are expected to win big as they always have against Rutgers. But the Scarlet Knights do appear to have made legitimate strides to become more competitive with the rest of the Big Ten, and they might be able to give the Buckeyes a bit more of a fight than they have in years past.

“This is not gonna be the same team we played the last couple years,” Day said. “So we’re going to have to do a good job. We’re going to make sure that we prepare, we take care of the football, take care of the basics and play a really hard game.”

Backups’ Time to Shine?

While Rutgers can’t be written off quite as easily this year because of its early success, Ohio State should still be able to pull away quickly if it plays up to its ability, and if that happens, the Buckeyes would surely like to get their backups some extended playing time in the second half.

Because Ohio State’s starters have played well into the fourth quarter of each of the first two games, most of the Buckeyes’ backups haven’t gotten any extended playing time yet. But in a season where Ohio State didn’t get any non-conference games, this could be the first prime opportunity for the Buckeyes to get their second- and third-team units some reps, which could in turn be an opportunity for some of their young players to show what they can do in primetime.

Perhaps most notably, Saturday could become an opportunity for freshman quarterbacks C.J. Stroud and Jack Miller to throw their first passes as Buckeyes if Justin Fields and the starters can put the game away by the third quarter.

“Any time you go into a game, you’re just trying to win the game, and that’s the focus,” Day said. “And then there’s certain guys you would like to see get in the game. You’d like to see them get touches on the perimeter, you’d like to see them get some snaps in the secondary. And there’s times where the game dictates that, and there’s other times where the game doesn’t. But you kind of have an idea of who those guys are going into the game, and you just try to adapt as it goes on. Because these games can go a million different directions, so you just try to adapt.”

C.J. Stroud could potentially make his Ohio State debut on Saturday.

Keep An Eye on These Guys

S Brendon White

Schiano isn’t the only former Buckeye returning to Ohio Stadium on Saturday, as White will also be back in the Shoe as a Scarlet Knights after three years as a Buckeye. The former Ohio State safety, who started the final five games of the 2018 season before his role was significantly reduced as the Buckeyes changed defensive schemes in 2019, is now one of Rutgers’ star players after transferring there at the end of last season.

White has recorded 17 total tackles, an interception and a fumble recovery in Rutgers’ first two games of the year, and he’ll surely be looking to make some big plays as he returns to his home state to play against his former teammates. Day, who said he wishes White “nothing but the best,” believes Rutgers is putting him in a position to succeed.

“Greg’s done a good job of putting him in good spots. He’s playing that free safety position. I think what they’re asking him to do fits his skill set really well. He’s going to have a good career there,” Day said. “He’s got a lot of talent.”

White isn’t the only former Ohio State defender now playing for Schiano at Rutgers, as former Buckeye defensive lineman Malik Barrow is also on the Scarlet Knights’ roster. He hasn’t made a big impact for them, yet, though, as he hasn’t recorded a tackle in their first two games of the season.

RELATED Brendon White Bringing “Winning Mentality” to Rutgers As He Prepares for Return Trip to Ohio State

LB Olakunle Fatukasi

Fatukasi did something no Rutgers player had done since 2014 when he earned Big Ten co-defensive player of the week honors after he recorded 10 total tackles, a forced fumble and two fumble recoveries in the season-opening win over Michigan State. On top of that, Fatukasi earned also national defensive player of the week award honors from the Bednarik Award, becoming the first Scarlet Knight to earn that recognition since 2012.

The senior linebacker continued his early-season production against Indiana by recording 14 total tackles, including 2.5 tackles for loss, in the defeat to the Hoosiers. His 24 total tackles for the season currently rank second in the entire Big Ten.

WR Bo Melton

The highest-rated recruit on Rutgers’ roster who didn’t start his college football career elsewhere, Melton has unsurprisingly emerged as one of the Scarlet Knights’ best players. He led them with 30 receptions for 427 yards and two receiving touchdowns last season – when they had one of the worst passing offenses in the country – and with Nebraska transfer Noah Vedral throwing him the ball this year, he’s caught eight passes for a team-high 98 yards and two touchdowns.

The Vedral-Melton connection isn’t as dangerous as Penn State’s Sean Clifford-Jahan Dotson connection that connected for eight completions, 144 yards and three touchdowns against Ohio State last week, but given that the Buckeyes’ secondary is their biggest question mark right now, Melton has the talent to put them to the test and make some plays if Ohio State’s cornerbacks don’t step up their game.

Game Week Talk

“It gives you a great measuring stick. Ohio State’s one of the best in the country, if not the best.”– Greg Schiano

Schiano knows his team is in for a challenge on Saturday night, and that Ohio State can expose every weakness the Scarlet Knights have, but he also knows it will give him and his team a truer sense of where they’ve improved and where they still need to get better.

“I think every player expects to win, so that’s the biggest goal, because if we didn’t expect to win, I don’t think we’d be here right now. There would be no point in competing.”– Brendon White

While the odds are certainly against Rutgers entering this game, White isn’t going to simply concede defeat. He’s going to go into Saturday’s game against his former team with a mindset of trying to play his best football and win, even though few outside the Rutgers football program will believe the Scarlet Knights have a chance.

“The teams that we’re playing upcoming, yeah, we might be favorites, but I respect the hell out of these teams. We’re talking about one of the best running backs in the Big Ten we’re about to face, a quarterback who’s a very tough guy, really good receivers, an O-line that’s solid.”– Ohio State linebacker Pete Werner

Ohio State is favored to win this week’s game by 38 points, and likely will be favored to win by similarly high margins in most of its remaining regular-season games, but Werner says he isn’t going to sleep on any Big Ten opponent. In addition to the aforementioned Vedral and Melton, Werner’s also impressed by Rutgers running back Isiah Pacheco, who has 154 total yards and two touchdowns on 37 total touches this season.

Get Smart

• Since Rutgers joined the Big Ten in 2014, Ohio State has won all six of its matchups against the Scarlet Knights by at least 35 points and a total margin of 327-48, an average margin of 46.5 points per game.
• This will be Ohio State’s first home night game against Rutgers. The Buckeyes did play road night games at Rutgers in 2015 and 2017.
• It will be Ohio State’s first home night game in November since it hosted Nebraska (a game it won 62-3) on Nov. 5, 2016.
• Ohio State’s roster includes five players from New Jersey (Tyler Friday, Ronnie Hickman, Javontae Jean-Baptiste, Cody Simon, Luke Wypler) while Rutgers’ roster includes three players from Ohio (White, running back Kay’Ron Adams and center Brendan Bordner).
• Five Rutgers starters transferred in this offseason from other schools: Vedral, White, wide receiver Aron Cruickshank (Wisconsin), tight end Jovani Haskins (West Virginia) and defensive tackle Michael Dwumfour (Michigan).

RELATED Across The Field: Q&A with Rutgers Beat Writer James Kratch As Scarlet Knights Bring 1-1 Record to Ohio Stadium

How It Plays Out

Line: Ohio State -38, O/U 64.5

Even though Rutgers has been better so far this season, Ohio State should beat the Scarlet Knights in lopsided fashion for a seventh consecutive year. This year’s Buckeyes are as good if not better than most of the teams that have dominated Rutgers in previous seasons, and there’s still an enormous talent gap between their rosters.

Picking a team to cover a 38-point spread is always a risky proposition, though, especially considering that the Buckeyes will likely have backups in the game – some of whom might be seeing their first snaps of the season or even their careers – for much of the second half if the game is under control.

Based on previous results against Rutgers, and the fact that Ohio State has a far more explosive offense than Rutgers, the Buckeyes could win by well over 38 points and it wouldn’t be a shock. If Rutgers looks a little more competitive than it typically has against the scarlet and gray, that shouldn’t come as a complete surprise either.

Ohio State won’t have any problem winning this game comfortably, though, as long as it plays anywhere close to its ability.

Eleven Warriors Staff Prediction
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