Ohio State football: 5 things to know about matchup vs. Rutgers

Here are five things to know about the game:

1. The Scarlet Knights are 3-1, but that mark could be misleading.

Rutgers opened the season with a 22-21 win over Boston College, who like the Scarlet Knights are coached by a former Ohio State defensive coordinator.

Schiano’s rebuild of Rutgers may be going better than Jeff Hafley’s project at Boston College, though, as the Golden Eagles are 1-3 on the year with their only win against FCS Maine.

The Scarlet Knights then blew out FCS Wagner before edging Temple 16-14.

The Owls are 2-2, but they are 111th in the advanced metric SP+ while Boston College is 93rd and Rutgers (3-1) is 77th.

2. Rutgers is coming off their first loss.

Rutgers sold out its home stadium last week, but the 53,117 at SHI Stadium could not will the Scarlet Knights to win over scuffling Iowa.

The Hawkeyes scored twice on defense and pulled out a 27-10 victory, thanks in no small part to Kaleb Johnson, a true freshman from Hamilton High School who ran for 58 yards for the Hawkeyes.

Iowa entered with one of the worst offenses in the country, and Rutgers limited the Hawkeyes to 277 total yards while making eight tackles for loss and three sacks.

“That was a great turnout, great atmosphere,” Schiano told reporters after the game. “That’s something to be seen in the future. Just wish we could have performed better, but we’re just not quite ready to do that yet in that environment. When you’re ready, you do it. We just weren’t able to quite execute every job to the point where we put it together. So go back to work. Got a great challenge ahead of us next week, go out to Columbus. So a lot of work to do.”

3. Rutgers has good defensive numbers through four games; the offense, not so much.

Rutgers is second in the nation in run defense (56.5 yards per game) and ninth in total defense (249.5 ypg.). Against the pass, the Scarlet Knights are 35th in yards allowed (193) and 42nd in efficiency (120.6).

Their seven tackles for loss per game rank 25th in the nation and trail only Ohio State’s 7.5 in the Big Ten.

On the other side of the ball, the Scarlet Knights are 43rd in the nation in rushing yards (185.8 yards per game) but 111th in passing yards (181.5) and 98th in total offense (367.2). They are 84th in scoring at 28.5 points per game.

The SP+ advanced stats, which are adjusted for tempo and strength of opponent, generally agree. The Scarlet Knights rank 103rd on offense and 32nd on defense.

4. The Scarlet Knights have never beaten Ohio State.

The teams first played in 2014, a 56-17 victory for the eventual national-champion Buckeyes. They have played every season since, and none of the games have been closer than the 49-27 Ohio State win at Rutgers in 2020.

The Buckeyes have scored at least 49 points in every game against Rutgers, including a 52-13 victory last season in Piscataway.

Ohio State’s eight wins without a loss are tied for the most in any series since the Buckeyes lost to Oregon last year to fall to 9-1 against the Ducks. They are also 8-0 against Washington State and have 7-0 marks against Maryland, Muskingum and Ohio.

5. Rutgers is short on local connections.

Schiano and the Buckeye defense had their ups and downs during his tenure, but it served to restore his coaching reputation after a failed stint as head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFL.

The Wyckoff, N.J., native went 68-67 as head coach at Rutgers from 2001-11 and took the Scarlet Knights to seven bowls before he took the Buccs job. He is 11-15 in his second stint at the helm, which became in 2020.

Three players on the Rutgers roster list Ohio as home: offensive lineman Kwabena Asamoah (Pickerington Central), receiver Don Mannerlyn (Columbus Independence) and long snapper Ed Rogowski (Lakewood St. Edward).

Ohio State has five players who list New Jersey as their home state: quarterback Kyle McCord (who graduated from Philadelphia St. Joe’s in Pennsylvania but is from Mt. Laurel), safety Ronnie Hickman (South Orange), linebacker Cody Simon (Jersey City), center Luke Wypler (Montvale) and defensive end Tyler Friday (Ramsey).

SATURDAY’S GAME

Rutgers at Ohio State, 3:30 p.m., BTN, 1410