3 reasons Ohio State will trample Rutgers

1. The Buckeyes’ run game will continue to improve against the Scarlet Knights.

The Buckeyes received quite a bit of criticism following week one’s underwhelming performance in the run game outside of Justin Fields. It has become increasingly apparent that it may be an issue of continuity above anything else. The Buckeyes went from distributing a near-even split between Master Teague and Trey Sermon in week one to giving the majority of the carries to the former in week two.

Emphasis was clearly placed upon holding Teague and Sermon responsible for production last week as opposed to Fields having to make it happen himself. Teague handled 23 carries with Sermon getting 13 carries as they combined for over 160 rushing yards and one touchdown. However, the combo was inefficient once again as they both failed to eclipse five yards per carry.

It was encouraging to see Teague rip off a few long runs including one that went for 31 yards but the Buckeyes are still in search of that home run threat in the run game. Fortunately, the team has some extra talent in their receiver room where they could lend Garrett Wilson for a play so he could display some game-breaking speed. One curious factor of last game was the non-factor of Steele Chambers who handled some carries in week one but did not get a single carry last week.

This information dictates the Buckeyes’ intentions of depending on Teague and Sermon as their primary backs. It will be interesting to see how this situation shakes out as the Buckeyes have not utilized their running backs as receivers out the backfield and have been limited on big plays thus far. This may become a larger concern down the stretch but it is still too early to determine.

The Scarlet Knights have the second stingiest rushing defense in the Big Ten this season but they have played against Indiana and Michigan State who have the bottom two rushing offenses. Indiana and Michigan State were in the bottom three in rushing offense in 2019 as well. Expect the Buckeyes to be productive in the run game against the Scarlet Knights’ defense.