My Thoughts.....Rutgers

         

                   Ohio State continued their improvement in the last month as they handed Rutgers their worst defeat in 12 years in a 56-17 demolishing behind five total touchdowns from quarterback J.T. Barrett.  Barrett has been playing as well as any quarterback in the country over the past four games and is a dark horse Heisman candidate.  The play on 2^nd-and-2 in the first quarter at the Rutgers 26-yard line shows how far he has come.  Barrett spun away from Rutgers linebacker Kevin Snyder, who was closing in for a sure sack, ran to his left, tucked the ball, and ran 13 yards for a first down that led to Ohio State’s second touchdown.  He has been the catalyst for an offense that has exploded for 50-plus points and 500-plus total yards in four consecutive games, a school record.  Barrett already has 20 touchdown passes and is just 11 away from breaking Troy Smith’s school record set in 2006.  Don’t laugh, but with a good outing in East Lansing, Barrett has a great opportunity to earn himself a trip to New York as a Heisman finalist.  The offensive line continued their steady improvement.  Against a defensive front that led the nation with 24 sacks, the offensive line gave up exactly zero sacks while opening holes for Buckeye ball carriers to the tune of 324 rushing yards.  Senior right tackle Darryl Baldwin was particularly impressive as he and right guard Pat Elflein teamed to open up gaping holes all day. There is still work to be done as the offensive line is committing too many false start penalties, is light on depth and Jacoby Boren’s injury doesn’t help that, but I can’t help but notice the steady growth shown by the unit under coach Ed Warriner's steady guidance.

            The defense also was impressive, containing Rutgers quarterback Gary Nova and his receiving corps and dominating the line of scrimmage until the game was out of reach, forcing two turnovers, one of which went for a touchdown courtesy of an Eli Apple fumble recovery and return.  The defense yielded 156 yards in the opening half with 67 of those coming on the lone scoring drive and 40 more coming on a rare breakdown on Rutgers' final possession. On the other 29 plays, the Scarlet Knights produced just 49 yards, or 1.7 yards per play. The Buckeye defense also shut down the running game holding Rutgers to 34 yards rushing on 19 carries in the opening 20 minutes, good for 1.8 yards per carry, and held the Scarlet Knights to 2/8 on 3rd down.   For the game, the defense held Nova 76 passing yards below his season average (17/28, 192 yards, INT) while racking up nine TFL's, four sacks and three turnovers.   Doran Grant had, what I thought, was his best game of the season thus far.  He led Ohio State in tackles with seven and, after letting Rutgers WR Leonte Caroo burn him for a 40-yard pass completion, Grant acquitted himself very well, as he made a big play on run support, making an impressive stop and holding Justin Goodwin short of a first down. Then, on 3^rd-and-4 from the OSU 6-yard line, when it looked like Rutgers would score just before halftime, he was locked in one-on-one coverage with Caroo.  Grant timed his jump perfectly and snagged the interception to kill whatever momentum Rutgers had.