Ohio State defeated Rutgers 52-13, and with it, the Buckeye football program is back to normal.
Rutgers attempted a fake punt after their first possession but failed. Ohio State scored two plays later on a 44-yard touchdown run from TreVeyon Henderson to open the scoring.
Noah Vedral threw a pick-six to Denzel Burke on the next drive, and the game was pretty much decided by that point. The Buckeyes poured it on thick and went into halftime up 45-6.
C.J. Stroud started the game, but after the first series of the second half, Kyle McCord and the second string came in relief. The offense took their foot off the gas in the third quarter, so the final score ended up 52-13.
Rutgers barely lost to Michigan last week, so many figured this game would be more competitive than most Ohio State-Rutgers matchups. This was the sixth time in the last eight matchups that Ohio State has scored more than 50 points against Rutgers. While it looked like Greg Schiano might be turning the Scarlet Knights around, they continue to look like the punching bag of the Big Ten East.
Ohio State Blows Past Rutgers
Ohio State’s offense rebounds
The Buckeyes’ offense played down to Tulsa a couple of weeks ago, but Day looks to have things trending in the right direction.
Stroud rested up against Akron, and he looks to be at 100 percent. The freshman quarterback played through a shoulder injury against Tulsa, and it was his worst game of the year. Against Rutgers, Stroud completed 17 of 23 passes for 330 yards and five touchdowns. All of this came in the first 35 minutes of the game since McCord came in to play most of the third quarter.
Chris Olave had only two catches for 12 yards in his last two games, but he also rebounded against Rutgers. Olave caught five passes for 119 yards and two touchdowns. He caught his 27th career touchdown, tying him for third place all-time with Cris Carter in program history.
Master Teague acted as the workhorse back in this game after having an up-and-down season. He had 11 rushes for 52 yards, getting 4.7 yards per carry. Marcus Crowley saw his first action since the opener at Minnesota. He ran for five yards
Ohio State’s Defense Shows Improvement
In two games since making major changes on defenses, Ohio State has played Akron and Rutgers. Those are not exactly good barometers to measure against.
Still, Ohio State’s defense dominated.
Vedral has not been immensely productive, but he has been efficient. Going into the Ohio State game, Vedral had a 67.9 completion percentage, a 139.7 rating, and five touchdowns to no interceptions.
Against Ohio State, Vedral completed 16 of 26 and had one touchdown to three interceptions. Almost half of Vedral’s passing production came on a 75-yard pass to Aron Cruickshank. If you take that away, then this appears to be the worst game of the season for Vedral, and one of his worst as the Rutgers quarterback.
Burke, Ryan Watts, and Tommy Eichenberg all intercepted Vedral. Overall, it was a complete domination on both sides of the ball.
