Buckeyes beat Rutgers in “choppy” performance
Cover Photo: Ohio State running back Miyan Williams stares down Rutgers defensive back Elijuwan Mack after his third rushing touchdown of the game with under a minute to play in the first half. Picture by Sam Fahmi/Columbus Wired.
The third-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes (5-0, 2-0 Big Ten) beat the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (3-2, 0-2) on Saturday afternoon in front of over 105,000 faithful Buckeye fans, 49-10.
The win marked OSU’s ninth-straight over the Scarlet Knights in as many tries.
However, it was a funky game, one marked with peaks and valleys starting with the Scarlet Knights doing something against Ohio State they had never done before in the series’ nine-game history, followed by a school record-tying performance from OSU running back Miyan Williams that was capped off with a fourth quarter scrum where both Ohio State head coach Ryan Day and Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano got flagged for unsportsmanlike penalties.
It was a peak for Williams, who ran for a career-high 189 yards on 21 carries and tied the school’s single-game rushing touchdown record by finding the end zone five times.
It was a valley for OSU quarterback C.J. Stroud, who was held to a career-low 154 passing yards, tied a career-low completion percentage (59) and threw his second interception of the season for a second-straight game.
It was also a valley for the nation’s second-ranked offense, who were held by Rutgers’ ninth-ranked defense to a season-low 413 total yards.
Day said sometimes a win might not look pretty but ultimately, that’s just part of the game.
“Those are the types of games that, you know, sometimes we’re going to have to play and overall, I thought it was a job well done.”
After the game, both Day and Schiano blew off the blow up and said they were cool with each other.
“Things got heated and it’s just one coach defending their side and one coach defending theirs, no hard feelings at all (and) I told him that after the game,” Day said. “I have an unbelievable amount of respect for him. So that’s all that was.”
The two coached together in the 2017 and ‘18 seasons at OSU when Schiano was former head coach Urban Meyer’s defensive coordinator and Day was Meyer’s quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator.
Schiano said his reaction wasn’t specifically directed towards Day and echoed Day’s sentiments.
“It’s not Ryan Day. I think it’s two coaches who had to protect the players. My player was in a sea of Ohio State players and it was closing fast. I wanted to make sure of two things: number one, I wanted to stop our team from coming across the field. That’s how things get very ugly. And (number two), I wanted to make sure that our player got out of there safely,” Schiano said.
“We’re both very competitive guys and I’ve got the utmost respect for Ryan, we’re good friends,” Schiano said. “We’re good, there’s no problem there between us.”
Midway through the fourth quarter a brouhaha erupted on the OSU sideline after punter Jesse Mirco called his own number on 4th-and-2 and took off on a 22-yard run. As Mirco was clearly heading out of bounds, Rutgers wide receiver Aron Cruickshank blasted him late and was flagged for it. However, that drew a rise out of several OSU players that came to Mirco’s defense which caused several Scarlet Knights to come over and defend their guy and a swarm of scarlet and white jerseys began shoving each other.
The fireworks didn’t stop there, though, as Schiano came rambling across the field and got to within a few feet of Day and apparently had some choice words for OSU’s head coach to which Day angrily fired back at his former Buckeye colleague. The end result was both coaches drawing unsportsmanlike penalties as well as Cruickshank getting ejected for a flagrant foul.
Day said the fake wasn’t scripted but that Mirco merely saw an opportunity and, literally, ran with it.
“Yeah I just grabbed him (Mirco) and I said, ‘what happened?’"
Day explained that Mirco began rolling out to his right to punt but saw that nobody was covering him and decided to take off with the ball.
“I said, ‘OK. Did anybody tell you to do that?’ And he said, ‘no.’ And I said, ‘OK, we’ll talk about that tomorrow’,” said Day with a laugh.
The peaks
Ohio State came in as the nation’s No. 18 total defense and did a great job of corralling Rutgers’ offense to a season-low 187 total yards, holding them to 107 on the ground and 80 through the air. Linebackers Steele Chambers and Tommy Eichenberg continued their dominance and combined for 20 of the team’s 67 tackles. Chambers led the team with 11 as well as two tackles-for-loss. Eichenberg had 9 tackles with 0.5 for-loss. Chambers also had an interception, which came late in the third quarter on a tipped pass by defensive end Zach Harrison, who had a clear path to Rutgers quarterback Evan Simon and knocked the ball in the air at the last second. The pick became the team’s third overall this season for a third game in a row. Harrison also caused a fumble late in the first quarter that was recovered by defensive tackle Mike Hall, Jr.
The biggest peak of the game, though, came from Williams, who led the team with 21 carries for a career-high 189 yards. The third-year, Cincinnati native also etched his name into the school’s record books when he tied tailback Keith Byars and fullback Pete Johnson with the five rushing scores.
Williams said after the game he didn’t know he had tied the record until his final TD, which was a two-yard punch-in with 14:50 to play, and joining the likes of two legendary Buckeyes is an honor.
“It’s a blessing to just be up there with them names," he said. "Like, those are legends here so it’s definitely a blessing.”
Byars’ five scores were in a crazy 45-38 comeback win against Illinois in Ohio Stadium in 1984 and Johnson first accomplished the feat nine years earlier in the Horseshoe in a 32-7 victory over North Carolina. Johnson scored all five of OSU’s touchdowns that day, leading the team with 26 carries and was second on the team with 148 yards next to Archie Griffin’s 157.
Byars’ accomplishment came after the team was trailing 24-0 late in the first half but finally got the team’s first TD with four minutes to go in the half and finalized the scoring bonanza with a game-sealing three-yard run with 36 seconds left to play in the game. His most amazing run was undoubtedly a 67-yard scamper on a pitch out of the backfield where he ran towards the sideline then cut back to the middle of the field, weaving his way to the end zone and literally threw a shoe while doing it.
Williams also had an amazing TD run on Saturday, which came on a 70-yarder up the middle where he blasted through an open hole and scooted untouched the rest of the way. The score came on the first play of their second drive of the second half, which immediately answered a Rutgers field goal that came way of Stroud’s interception. Williams, however, didn’t lose a shoe.
He said he was told he was going to be the team’s primary back right before kickoff when it was announced that TreVeyon Henderson was a late-game scratch. He said after he found out, he told his teammate he had his back.
“I looked him in his eyes and I told Tre, ‘I got you, I got you today’.”
Williams’ performance also helped the Buckeyes pile up 252 yards on the ground, which was a season-high for Rutgers who came into the game as the country’s second-best rushing defense at only 56 yards per game.
The valleys
The game took an almost immediate inauspicious twist after the first possession of the game. Ohio State's defense held Rutgers to a three-and-out but allowed the Scarlet Knights to keep the ball when OSU receiver Emeka Egbuka muffed the punt trying to field it over his shoulder. Rutgers recovered it at the OSU 18 and drew first blood three plays later when Simon connected with receiver Sean Ryan on a 14-yard pass over OSU cornerback Denzel Burke’s head in the near corner of the end zone. It was the first time in the two teams' nine-year history that Rutgers had ever plunked down the first score of the game.
Another valley occurred as Rutgers’ defense (and even their offense) held the Buckeyes’ offense in check at 413 total yards, which was the lowest amount since their 2020 national championship loss to Alabama when the Crimson Tide suffocated Ohio State’s offense for a mere 341 yards.
The Scarlet Knights did a good job of containing the Buckeyes’ prolific air attack to 161 yards and did all they could do to flummox Stroud. For the most part, they completed the task as he was 13-of-22 (59 percent) for 154 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. The completion percentage tied the worst of his Buckeye career, which came in his first-ever start in last year’s season-opener on the road against Minnesota, and the yards were a career-low. The interception was the Heisman hopeful’s second of the season and marked the second game in a row he threw a pick.
He said Rutgers’ coverage was causing issues for his guys to get open.
“They were taking a lot of stuff away with two-high coverage and things like that.”
Coverage was tight on the interception, which came on the first play of the second half. He tried a deep shot down the middle to Egbuka but four Rutgers players were right there and defensive back Avery Young swallowed up the pass.
Stroud’s response was simple: “I just got to be smart with the ball.”
The interception led to Rutgers’ final score of the game, a Jude McAtamney 35-yard field goal that came with 10:12 to play in the third quarter.
Schiano and his offensive staff also put together a game plan that was successful in keeping Stroud in check by controlling the ball for over seven minutes more than the Buckeyes at 33:05 to 26:55.
Asked about his overall performance, Stroud said winning the game is most important.
“From my perspective, we won, so I don’t even care. I think their goal as a defense was to not let our pass game win, so we ran the ball.”
Stroud pointed out that Day had said before the season began he wanted to run the ball more and as far as Stroud is concerned, he’s perfectly fine with the game plan.
“Early in the season I said I was cool with that. It’s not just about me, it’s about getting wins and other people eating.”
Egbuka and fellow receiver Julian Fleming both led the team with four catches as Egbuka led in yards (70) while Fleming was second with 51. Fleming caught one of Stroud’s TD passes, a 36-yarder on the second play of the second quarter where Fleming split two defensive backs over the middle for the score.
Marvin Harrison, Jr. had three receptions for 18 yards and a four-yard TD late in the third quarter.
Ohio State’s next game is in East Lansing, Mich. against Michigan State (2-3, 0-2) and is their first road game of the season. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. ET and will be ABC’s national game of the week.