Rutgers Coach Greg Schiano on Ryan Day: “We're Good, There's No Problem There Between Us”

Rutgers found out the hard way when it comes to trying to stop Ohio State's passing attack *and* running game...and even a fake punt.

Ohio State was favored to beat Rutgers by 39 points Saturday afternoon. The game was never expected to be close. Then again, given what has happened across college football through the first month of the season, anything could happen on any given Saturday.

Unfortunately for Rutgers, Saturday's game followed a similar script as the previous eight appearances between the Buckeyes and Scarlet Knights: A blowout win for Ohio State, one in which the backups are playing late in the game.

“Tough game. Ohio State's got a good ball club,” Schiano said after the game. “We didn't do enough things right, in the end, to be in the game. That was our hope, that we could get it to the fourth quarter and have it still be a game so we'd have a chance. We didn't accomplish our goal ... It's just not our time ... yet.

"It was going to take a lot. We didn't come here to get close. We came here to win. That's something you have to learn to do, especially against a team of this quality. You gotta get good enough to do that. But we came here with that, that was our mission, and we weren't quite good enough to do that. We weren't going to hold back. To me, it was an opportunity that we didn't take advantage of but nonetheless, it was an opportunity."

Even with the lopsided score, the biggest fireworks of the game came when Jesse Mirco ran for 22 yards on a punt play midway through the fourth quarter when the game was already essentially over. It led to a late hit which then turned into Schiano and Ryan Day getting into it a bit with some finger-pointing and yelling, an event that took over social media and plenty of the postgame discussions, especially involving the two head coaches.

After the game, Day downplayed the entire situation. Schiano seemed to do the same.

"I don't think that [the fake punt] was called,” Schiano said. “I think it kind of just got ran because of the scheme. Sometimes you have things that are automatics and then they happen. I don't know for sure but that's not an issue. That had nothing to do with the whole chain of events there. It was literally just two competitive guys that were protecting their players and like I said, I just did not want a fight to break out. It's not good for Rutgers, it's not good for Ohio State, it's not good for college football. So, mission accomplished – it didn't happen.

“It's not Ryan Day and I. I think it's two coaches that protect our players. My player was in a sea of Ohio State players and it was closing fast so I wanted to make sure of two things: No. 1, I wanted to stop our team from coming across the field. That's how things get very ugly. And I wanted to make sure that our player got out of there safely.

“Both [Day and I] are very competitive guys and I have the utmost respect for Ryan. We're good friends. We're good, there's no problem there between us. ... We both weren't going to let that get in the way [of our friendship]. In the heat of the moment, competitive, we were both protecting our players. That's what good coaches do.”

Ohio State's offense is led by C.J. Stroud, a quarterback who is the odds-on favorite to win the Heisman Trophy at season's end. Everyone knows that, yet the Buckeye passing attack is still tough to prepare for and stop. Rutgers tried to do both of those.

"The thing that had me the most fearful was their passing game,” Schiano said. “So we were going to try and make sure that that didn't – that's how that game gets out of hand. You've seen it happen to many people. It's just explosive when you're putting in the throw game."

The Scarlet Knights kept Stroud in check. It was the gunslinger's worst game of the season so far, at least on paper. Stroud completed 13 of 22 passes for just 154 yards and two touchdowns. Rutgers even forced an interception as well.

"I think we got to [C.J. Stroud] a little bit,” Stroud said. “When you watch, getting ready for him, it literally looked like 7-on-7 sometimes. No one was touching him. So, it's different playing quarterback when you're not touched. ... That's a very good offensive line."

The problem: Miyan Williams, who started his first game of the season due to TreVeyon Henderson being held out of the game, absolutely dominated and essentially did whatever he wanted to do for much of the game. The junior ran for 189 yards and five touchdowns on just 21 carries.

"It's the run that, you know, you kind of have to pick if you're going to dedicate resources to stop one, you try and cover up the other,” Schiano said. “But they're the third-ranked team in the country for a reason. I thought we played our guts out but we're just not ready yet. We will be. There will be a day.”

Ohio State led 28-10 five minutes into the third quarter when the offensive line opened a huge running lane for Williams, who took advantage of the opportunity and ran for a 70-yard touchdown.

“The big run, really, that's a dagger for us right there,” Schiano said.

Rutgers did their best, forced the Heisman Trophy favorite to an average game at best and still gave up 49 points and lost by 39. That's just how good Ohio State is. Schiano knows that. There's only so much an inferior opponent can do against an explosive offense as the Buckeyes have.

“They have a Heisman candidate at quarterback, they have a deep stable over receivers. It's tough,” Schiano said. “I thought, all in all, pretty good job against the pass [with a depleted secondary].”