Ohio State’s Defense Leads Buckeyes to Rutgers Win By Shutting Down Scarlet Knights in Red Zone

Rutgers reached the red zone six times against Ohio State on Saturday. Those drives led to as many touchdowns for the Buckeyes as they did for the Scarlet Knights.

Statistically, the Buckeyes’ defense had one of its worst games of the year in Piscataway. The Buckeyes allowed Rutgers to gain 361 total yards, including 232 rushing yards – both the most Ohio State has given up all season. The Scarlet Knights’ 5.3 yards per play were the second-most any opponent has averaged against the Buckeyes this year, as were their 16 points.

But Rutgers could have scored a lot more – and perhaps even beaten Ohio State for the first time ever – if the Buckeyes’ defense hadn’t consistently stepped up when their backs were against the wall.

Rutgers drove inside Ohio State’s 5-yard line on each of its final three possessions of the first half, but the Buckeyes made the Scarlet Knights settle for field goals on all three of them. Rutgers started the last two of those possessions in Ohio State territory thanks to an ill-fated decision by punter Jesse Mirco to attempt to run for a first down and an interception by Rutgers linebacker Mohamed Toure. Still, the defense's efforts kept Ohio State down by only two points at halftime, 9-7, when the Scarlet Knights could have taken a multi-touchdown lead.

“We put the defense in a tough spot, two situations where Rutgers gets the ball in plus territory, and the defense hung in there. I thought that was really big,” Ryan Day said after the game.

Ohio State’s defense came up even bigger when Rutgers returned to the red zone on its opening drive of the second half. Momentum seemed to be firmly on the Scarlet Knights’ side as they looked poised to score for a fourth straight possession after driving 55 yards in nine plays. However, the Buckeye defense flipped the game’s momentum completely when Gavin Wimsatt’s pass from the 20-yard line intended for Kyle Monangai was deflected by Josh Proctor and caught for an interception by Jordan Hancock, who then took the ball all the way to the end zone for a 93-yard touchdown, the sixth-longest interception return in Ohio State history.

BUCKEYES PICK SIX@OhioStateFB defense coming up clutch pic.twitter.com/K9MLjb6eWd
— CBS Sports College Football (@CBSSportsCFB) November 4, 2023

“We talk about winning the game on defense and being there when we’re needed and we’re counted on. Those kind of plays, they make a huge difference,” defensive coordinator Jim Knowles said of the pick-six.

Rutgers’ only touchdown of the day would come two plays into the fourth quarter when Wimsatt completed a 19-yard pass to JaQuae Jackson to cap off a six-play, 75-yard drive, which brought the Scarlet Knights back within five points after a touchdown run by Ohio State’s TreVeyon Henderson gave the Buckeyes their first two-score lead of the day. The same sequence looked like it could play out again on Rutgers’ subsequent drive after Marvin Harrison Jr. scored his first of two fourth-quarter touchdowns, but the Buckeyes held the Scarlet Knights without points on their sixth and final trip to the red zone thanks to a 4th-and-goal sack by Ty Hamilton.

Huge 4th down sack for @ohiostateFB.

Buckeyes bend but don't break. pic.twitter.com/KL6JORAarh
— CBS Sports College Football (@CBSSportsCFB) November 4, 2023

Rutgers wouldn’t cross midfield on either of its final two possessions as Ohio State went on to win 35-16.

Stepping up to keep opponents out of the end zone in crucial situations is nothing new for this year’s Ohio State defense. The Buckeyes held Notre Dame without points on three trips inside their 40-yard line in their first big game of the season. In a game that played out somewhat similarly to the Rutgers game, Proctor made a pick-six after Ohio State fell into an early 10-0 deficit against Maryland, after which the Buckeyes allowed the Terrapins to score just one more time before going on to win 37-17. The Buckeyes forced two fourth-quarter turnovers on downs in their 20-12 win over Penn State and did so again in their 24-10 win over Wisconsin last week.

As Ohio State’s offense has been unable to reach its prolific heights of previous seasons, the Buckeyes have needed their defense to lead the way to victories, and that’s a responsibility the defense has taken on with pride.

“We came in spring ball, camp, with that mindset that we as a defense are going to step up this year, and that's what we want to show the world,” Proctor said. “We tell ourselves one play at a time. In our heads, we want to win the game on defense. No matter the score; whether we're up, whether we’re down.”

Ohio State’s defense returns home from Piscataway with plenty to work on, particularly in run defense, as the Scarlet Knights’ 5.4 yards per carry are the most the Buckeyes have allowed in a game this season. Knowles said the Buckeyes knew going into the game, though, that the Scarlet Knights would get some yards on the ground and that the most important thing was simply to prevent them from scoring touchdowns.

“It was kind of the philosophy we had going into this game. We knew the running quarterback was tough to defend, we knew they might pick up some yards, but we were gonna have to win in the situations,” Knowles said.

Add in the fact that Ohio State entered the game without two of its starting defensive backs (Denzel Burke and Lathan Ransom) and finished without a third, as Proctor was held out for the rest of the contest after taking a shot to the head on Hancock’s interception, and Knowles left SHI Stadium feeling pleased with the defense’s performance as a whole.

“I definitely take the 16 points,” Knowles said. “The way we forced field goals, the way it was a situational game against their offense, you had to win in the situations.”

While Day acknowledged that Ohio State must do a better job of not putting its defense in disadvantageous situations than it did against Rutgers, he was proud of the defense for once again making the plays it needed to make to ultimately swing the game in the Buckeyes’ favor.

“I think it just goes to show, the defense has shown that before week after week, that they're gonna make you work the entire field, hanging in there,” Day said. “So we're gonna have to continue to do that, but we don't want to put them in those situations too many times.”