MY THOUGHTS.....Rutgers

 

The Ohio State Buckeyes cruised to a big halftime lead, then seemed to go to sleep in the second half as they improved to 3-0 on the season with a 49-27 win over Rutgers.  Rutgers coach Greg Schiano pulled out his full bag of tricks, starting with a throwback on the opening kickoff and featuring a trick play on a punt return for a touchdown.  I have never seen as many trick plays attempted in one game. 

Justin Fields put on another show, hitting on 24-of-28 throws for 314 yards and five touchdowns, while running for another score.  Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave were the top receivers, hauling in six and five catches respectively, but Fields spread it around hitting nine different receivers.  Through the first three games, Fields has as many touchdown passes as incompletions (11).  The running game managed 203 yards with fits and starts, it seemed.  Master Teague and Trey Sermon shared the load, each carrying 12 times.  Sermon lead the way with 68 yards and Teague had 65 and a touchdown.  Steele Chambers, the third-team back, showed some impressive speed, getting 46 yards on just four attempts and breaking off a 38-yarder for the longest run of the night.  As sharp as they were in the first half, the offense seemed to take the second half off.  Lack of concentration on the offensive line resulted in numerous holding and procedure penalties.

Ohio State’s defense held Rutgers to a mere 83 yards in the first half on 2.9 yards per play, but relaxed in the second half, giving up 290 yards and 24 points.  Still, there were noteworthy performances on that side of the ball.  Tuf Borland led the way with eight tackles and a sack.  Baron Browning was able to chase down Rutgers ball carriers when they tried to run wide, and the defensive line, despite getting no sacks, saw good play from Javontae Jean-Baptise, Tyler Friday, and Taron Vincent, as they were making plays all over the place. 

The season continues with next week’s trip to College Park to face a Maryland squad fresh off a thrashing of Penn State, with the Buckeyes needing to work on both sides of the ball to avoid another second-half letdown.