Ohio State football: 5 reasons the Buckeyes will dominate Rutgers
By Alec Hartman
Five reasons the Ohio State football squad will trounce Rutgers Scarlet Knights in the Buckeyes’ first Big Ten game of the 2018 season.
What an opening day it was for the Ohio State football team last weekend. The Buckeyes looked great as they cruised to a 40+ point victory to kick off the regular season. The 77 points scored by the offense was the most scored by any team this season in week one.
Yet, there is still a lot of work to do with plenty of things to work on. The best thing that came from the game last weekend isn’t that the Buckeyes won by such a large margin but that they still have room to improve. The Buckeyes will not rest on their laurels this week as they know there’s work to do on both sides of the ball to even further improve their game.
One of the main points of interest last week was the team management poise of interim head coach Ryan Day. He looked great leading the team from the sideline against the Oregon State Beavers. The Buckeyes didn’t look out of sync in any way and were very clean in transitioning between offensive/defensive/special teams packages and assignments.
In the absence of Urban Meyer, acting head coach Day looked calm and collected. Of course, everybody is already missing Meyer’s great emotional presence but that will be returning soon enough. Day’s calmness during the games could be exactly what this team needs to remain focused.
The Buckeyes have been business as usual this week preparing to face the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. The Scarlet Knights have never won over three games in Big Ten play. Like Maryland, they are relatively new to the conference and are still settling in. The progress with the Scarlet Knights has been a bit slower but they’re working their way in nonetheless.
This match up has been won by the Buckeyes by an average of 48 points over the past four seasons. Another more concerning fact for the Scarlet Knights is that they’ve been shut out by the Buckeyes in the last two seasons while losing by 55+ points. However, they’re still a divisional opponent so they remain a team to not fall flat against.
Divisional opponents tend to be more difficult as they get better at matching up against and game planning for their fellow division mates with each passing year. Fortunately, the Buckeyes have a different look this season on both sides but most notably on offense.
The Scarlet Knights come into this game on a positive note after a 28 point victory over Texas State., however a win over a far inferior opponent doesn’t hold much weight.
None-the-less, Rutgers will try to string some wins together while trying to get their first Big Ten win against the Buckeyes. They’re a five-touchdown underdog in, and are really just another practice squad for the Scarlet and Gray with a ranked TCU squad laying in wait next week.