Wrestling: No. 2 Ohio State Throttles No. 17 Rutgers, 29-11

Ohio State's upper weights piled on the bonus points, holding off an ascendant Rutgers lineup that earned two big upsets in a 29-11 Big Ten victory. After a 45-3 beatdown of the Maryland Terrapins, the Buckeyes faced a much stiffer test versus the Scarlet Knights.

Kyle Snyder returned to the lineup for his fourth collegiate dual of the year, flying in from the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs to showcase his transcendent abilities for more than 5,100 east coast wrestling fans. They got their money's worth, seeing the pound-for-pound best wrestler on the planet pin his opponent midway through the first period.

Myles Martin also got his fourth pin of the season, just 25 seconds into the match. A major decision by Kollin Moore and Joey McKenna, and decisions by the Jordan brothers and Luke Pletcher secured the Buckeyes third conference win of the season.

Buckeye Breakdown

Ohio State entered the Rutgers Athletic Center with the clear advantage, fielding the favorite in nine of 10 matches. The Scarlet Knights didn't get the memo, however, as their wrestlers performed admirably, earning upsets at 149 and 165 to go along with their expected win at 125.

With the victory, Ohio State has outscored its dual-meet opponents by a combined score of 283-50, an average of 35.3 to 6.3. Rutgers joins Arizona State as the only teams this season to reach double-digits against one of the best Buckeye lineups in history.

Fall Guys

Myles Martin was the first Buckeye to win by pin fall in the dual meet season, and he was the first to do so at Rutgers as well. Just 20 seconds into his match with Jordan Pagano, the lightning-quick former NCAA champion put his man on the mat, and ended the match putting six points on the team score.

Myles Martin with a quick pin at 184 and the Buckeyes have a 9-0 lead over Rutgers. pic.twitter.com/CjfQpMn9OK

— Eleven Warriors (@11W) January 7, 2018

Kyle Snyder, just two matches later, followed suit, pinning his opponent after three takedowns in the first ninety seconds.

Outlook: Pain pic.twitter.com/SI0w5DjTmc

— Eleven Warriors (@11W) January 7, 2018

Snyder is four for four winning by pin fall this season. He is the only Buckeye to win exclusively by pin, and is tied with Martin and Bo Jordan at four pins each.

Micah Jordan, who went on a pin-streak at the Princeton Open and Cliff Keen tournaments, leads the team with seven pins.

Stuck in the Middle

With Snyder, Moore, Martin and Jordan each ranked in the top three of their weight classes, the heavy end of the Buckeye lineup is as good as it gets. Nathan Tomasello, Pletcher and McKenna, likewise, are an extremely potent trio at the light end.

Where the Buckeyes face a bigger challenge, particularly as it comes to squaring off against Penn State's murderer's row in the postseason, is in the middle of the lineup. Rutgers took advantage Sunday, earning upsets of No. 5 Ke-Shawn Hayes at 149 and of No. 11 Te'Shan Campbell at 165.

Hayes faced No. 14 Eleazar DeLuca, a redshirt senior who came into the match 6-4 after dropping a string of matches to ranked opponents at Lock Haven, Iowa and the Midlands tournament.

After a scoreless first period, it seemed like Hayes was in control of the match. From the top position starting the second, the redshirt sophomore worked a tilt into a four-point near fall, holding the 4-0 advantage into the final frame.

A quick escape from bottom to open the third should have given him a comfortable advantage, but DeLuca had too much fight left in him, laying an impressive six-point move from a huge throw that nearly blew the lid off the Rutgers Athletic Center. With 5,000 fans on their feet, he gave the crowd a near-instant replay, turning a second throw into a second batch of near-fall points and securing the upset.

Hayes returns to Columbus nursing just his second loss of the season, both to Top 15 opponents. He has three wins over Top 15 guys, so there is no question he's still one of the top contenders in the class, but he'll need to rebound Friday night under the bright lights at The Schott versus Minnesota.

Likewise, No. 11 Te'Shan Campbell entered the match favored - on paper - over No. 15 Richie Lewis. Lewis may have been criminally under-ranked, however, based on his two losses to Iowa's Alex Marinelli, one of the Top 10 middleweights in the country.

Lewis is the reigning U23 World freestyle champion at 70 kg, wrestling for Team USA alongside Buckeye Joey McKenna, who took bronze 65 kg.

As with the 149-pound match, Campbell and Lewis spent the first period feeling each other out, entering the second scoreless. Starting the second from bottom, Lewis was able to neutralize Campbell's perceived advantage on top, escaping just 15 seconds into the period.

Campbell tied things up at one a piece with his own escape early in the third, but from there it was all the world champion. With less than a minute to wrestle, a flurry of action by both combatants ultimately gave Lewis the first takedown of the match, and though Campbell was able to escape, Lewis tacked on a second as time expired. 

His scrambling earned the 5-2 decision to end the meet on a high note for the home team, though the outcome of the dual was long since decided.

Bonus Points

Just four of Ohio State's seven wins came with bonus points attached. The roster holds an average bonus rate of roughly 67% for the postseason starters. Those bonus points have been a focal point for a team that knows it faces a daunting task in trying to upend the defending national champion Nittany Lions, a team returning five defending individual champions.

Not counting Snyder and Tomasello, who have scored bonus points in 100% of their five cumulative matches, Myles Martin leads the team with an 88% bonus rate through 17 matches. With Tomasello and Snyder in the lineup, six Buckeyes are undefeated on the season, as Martin, Moore, McKenna and Pletcher all extended their winning streaks.

Pletcher now has 18 consecutive victories to his credit, with Martin right behind at 17 straight.

Ohio State improves to 8-0 overall and 3-0 in the Big Ten. The Buckeyes host No. 8 Minnesota Friday night at the Jerome Schottenstein Center.