Rutgers Recap
1.
CJ Stroud had a rough day: 13 of 22 for 154 yards, 2 TDs, an INT, and a sack; a second sack (a 12-yard loss on 3rd-and-goal from the 3-yard line) was negated by a penalty on Rutgers. Stroud made some bad decisions and some bad throws and never seemed in rhythm all game long. Because the passing game was off, none of the receivers had a particularly memorable performance.
2. On the other hand,
Miyan Williams, starting in place of an injured (?)
TreVeyon Henderson, had the best game of his Buckeye career: 21 carries for 189 yards (9.0 average) and a program record 5 touchdowns (tying Pete Johnson, 1974, North Carolina; Keith Byars, 1984, Illinois), one of which went for 70 yards. Williams is starting to remind a little bit of Maurice Clarett - the power, the constant motion, the change of direction, the variation of speed, overall an unorthodox herky jerky running style. Williams doesn't have Clarett's vision or burst of speed, but he has shown marked improvement during his second season.
3. Ohio State ran 15 plays from inside the Rutgers 5-yard line, with the following results (in order):
- Incompletion
- Miyan Williams 2-yard run (TD)
- Incompletion
- Miyan Williams 1-yard run (TD)
- Miyan Williams 3-yard run
- Miyan Williams -2-yard run
- CJ Stroud -12-yard sack; negated by Rutgers penalty
- CJ Stroud -1-yard sack
- Miyan Williams 1-yard run
- CJ Stroud 0-yard run
- Miyan Williams 2-yard run (TD)
- Incompletion
- Incompletion
- Marvin Harrison Jr 4-yard reception (TD)
- Miyan Williams 2-yard run (TD)
4. The Buckeye defense held Rutgers to 10 points and 187 yards of offense; and 1 for 13 (.077) on 3rd- and 4th-down conversions. The Scarlet Knights' lone touchdown came on a 3-play, 18-yard drive after a Buckeye muffed punt; their other score was a field goal that concluded their best sustained drive (8 plays, 42 yards). It's difficult to say whether the Buckeye defense is that good, or the Scarlet Knight offense is that bad.
5. Linebacker
Steele Chambers had a DPOW game, with 11 tackles (8 solo), 2 TFLs, an INT, and a QBH.
Zach Harrison caused a pair of turnovers with a forced fumble that was recovered by
Mike Hall Jr. and a tipped pass that was intercepted by Chambers. True freshman cornerback
Ryan Turner had the lone Buckeye sack of the game. On the negative side,
Denzel Burke continued to struggle as Rutgers's two longest plays of the game (one of which was their lone touchdown) were pass completions to his man; on both plays, Burke seemed to have no idea where the ball was. Burke did have one nice PBU on 3rd down, but that play was negated by a Buckeye penalty.
6. The game was really quite slow and boring until 9:32 of the fourth quarter. With the Buckeyes leading 49-10 and facing 4th-and-2 from their own 39-yard line, punter
Jesse Mirco rolled right in order to launch one of his rugby style kicks, saw 30 yards of open field ahead of him, and decided to take off running. Mirco gained 22 yards on the play but got blasted out of bounds by Rutgers return man Aron Cruickshank, who was ejected for the egregious late hit. A brawl nearly broke out on the field, and both head coaches received unsportsmanlike penalties for their respective parts in the altercation. Of course Cruickshank's cheap shot was inexcusable, but it was also not unexpected given the 39-point rout, and Mirco was lucky that he was not hurt on the play. Although much of Buckeye Nation cheered his heroics, Mirco is a valuable asset as a punter and he needs to protect himself for those games later in the season when his leg might be a key to a hard fought victory. Risking injury while going for style points against a hapless opponent was not a good move and I'm sure that Mr. Mirco will hear about his poor decision from the coaching staff.
