The start of November sees the Buckeyes heading to Piscataway to take on Greg Schiano’s Scarlet Knights.
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- Thread starter BB73
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2. RUTGERS (NOV. 4, AWAY)
Average Ranking: 3.1High Rank: 2
Low Rank: 4
Rutgers hasn’t come close to beating Ohio State in any of the nine meetings since the Scarlet Knights joined the Big Ten, and we don’t expect that to change this year. The Scarlet Knights are coming off their eighth consecutive losing season. While Greg Schiano has brought some talent to Rutgers since returning to Piscataway, there’s still a considerable gap between the Scarlet Knights’ roster and the Buckeyes’ roster.
2023 Season Preview: Ranking Ohio State’s 12 Regular-Season Games from Easiest to Most Difficult
We rank Ohio State’s 12 regular-season games from the one we’re most certain the Buckeyes will win (Youngstown State) to the game we expect to be the biggest challenge (Michigan).
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OHIO STATE VS. RUTGERS SET FOR NOON KICKOFF ON CBS
By Chase Brown on October 23, 2023 at 11:30 am @chaseabrown__
The Nov. 4 battle between the Buckeyes and Scarlet Knights will be Ohio State's second appearance on CBS this fall, as Ohio State defeated Indiana 23-3 in its 2023 season opener – a contest that became CBS' most-watched Week 1 matchup in 25 years. It will also be Ohio State’s fourth noon game in five weeks, as each of its last three games (Maryland, Purdue, Penn State) have kicked off in the early time slot, though this week’s game against Wisconsin will be a 7:30 p.m. game on NBC.
Ohio State is ranked No. 3 in the latest AP Poll and Coaches Poll. The Buckeyes' résumé features two of the best wins in college football, including a 17-14 road win over then-No. 9 Notre Dame in Week 4 and a 20-12 home win over then-No. 7 Penn State in Week 7. This weekend, Ohio State travels to Camp Randall Stadium to face a Luke Fickell-coached Wisconsin team, which possesses a 5-2 record and sits atop the Big Ten West.
Rutgers has been one of the surprise teams in college football this season, collecting a 6-2 record through eight weeks. The Scarlet Knights have defeated Northwestern, Temple, Virginia Tech, Wagner, Michigan State and Indiana, while their losses have come at the hands of Michigan and Wisconsin. Rutgers is off this weekend.
In nine all-time matchups between Ohio State and Rutgers, the Buckeyes are a perfect 9-0, outscoring the Scarlet Knights 477-98 in the contests for an average outcome of 53-12 in favor of Ohio State.
Ohio State vs. Rutgers Set For Noon Kickoff on CBS
Ohio State will make its second appearance on CBS this season when the Buckeyes battle Rutgers at noon on Nov. 4.
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The most interesting part of this game will be how OSU deals with Monangai.. same style and body as Corum...
He leads B1G in rushing... so it'll be a great practice game...
He leads B1G in rushing... so it'll be a great practice game...
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Practice game, hell; this one scares me
some context for what I’m thinking here
ND played a tough, physical, emotional home game (OSU)
Then played a tough, physical, emotional road game (Duke)
Then played a second straight week on the road
They were crushed by a Louisville team that lost to the Pitt team that ND just destroyed
OSU played a tough, physical, emotional home game (PSU)
Then played a tough, physical, emotional road game (Wiscy)
Now they’ll go play a second straight week on the road, against a team that had a bye today, a team that has a legit defence
The Buckeyes are not immune to the pattern that cost ND a shot at the playoff.
This is not a practice game
The Buckeyes need to buckle up and focus
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The thing I like about Fickell (as an opponent) is he coaches by the card. He will kick the FG when he should and punt when he should etc etc etc.
Schiano, OTOH, will be calling triple reverse flea flickers until the clock turns 0:00
Fucking hate playing him.
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Onebuckfan
classof76
Also he will continually try to confuse the OL with stunts and blitzes..they haven’t used before.#24 the safety blew up many plays last night. There will be angst guaranteed.
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Irrelevant Numbers for the Rutgers game
As I said above, this game is in a bad spot on the schedule. That means that the result is likely to defy any numerical analysis. But when has that ever stopped me?
The first thing to note is how remarkably similar Rutgers and Wisconsin are:
The above are national rankings in what I consider the major categories
Rushing and Total rankings are in YPP
Some of the above numbers do not exactly comport with the nationally published numbers. In those cases it is due to rounding errors in the published numbers, the rankings above are more accurate.
Both are middling at rushing offense and bad at passing
Both are better at pass defense than at rushing defense
Both are much better on defense than on offense
Overall, Rutgers looks better. But Wiscy has faced Scoring Defenses that rank almost 19 spots higher on average and Scoring Offenses that rank almost 7 and 1/2 spots higher on average. So the Badger victory over Rutgers in Madison isn't that big of a surprise.
Nevertheless, this is a team that is a close match for Wisconsin on a neutral field, and the Buckeyes are not playing them on a neutral field. Nor are they playing them on a neutral spot on the schedule, but that is well-plowed ground by now.
I will elide the Ohio State Rushing offense for now. They appear to have turned a corner last week, so it seems likely that we can expect better from them than what the numbers would suggest. The numbers would have predicted an advantage for the Wisconsin rushing defense last week; we saw how that turned out.
The charts below show the rankings for the combatants in this game and the ranking for their average opponent. So each team's offensive rankings are juxtaposed with their opponents' average defensive ranking and vice versa.
As for when the Scarlet Knights are running the ball:
Rutgers - Rushing (YPC)
So Ohio State's rushing defense ranks 39 spots higher after facing opponents that rank a little more than 5 spots higher, on average.
That's a significant ADVANTAGE - BUCKEYES
Rutgers - Passing Efficiency
After having faced opponents ranking 49.14 on average, it might be fair to say that Rutgers is probably a little better than their 116th ranking. It is also fair to say that they are going to be as helpless as a sack of kittens in the Raritan river going against the top-ranked Silver Bullets.
ADVANTAGE - BUCKEYES
Ohio State - Passing Efficiency
Rutgers' pass defense is ranked 14 points higher, but have faced opponents ranked 50 points lower. IF the Buckeyes play to their usual standard, then this should be:
ADVANTAGE - BUCKEYES
Total Offense (ypp)
So the Scarlet Knights' Defense is ranked 17 spots higher than the Buckeye Offense, but that's after going against a schedule ranked 44 spots (and change) lower. IF the Buckeyes play to their usual standard, then the advantage would go to the Buckeyes. In this spot on the schedule though, I'll believe it when I see it.
As for the Scarlet Knights' Offense... Unless the spot on the schedule affects the Buckeye defense more than I would expect, the top-ranked Silver Bullets should handle Schiano and his bag of tricks just fine.
Scoring
Rutgers' Defense is ranked 25 spots higher after facing offenses ranked 27 points (and change) lower. Truthfully it is hard to say there is an advantage there either way.
The other side of the coin is not so hard to judge. The Silver Bullets are ranked 65 spots higher after facing a schedule 4 spots (and change) higher.
I haven't cranked up the spreadsheets yet this year, so full on DSA will have to wait (if I get around to it at all), but bar-napkin level DSA puts this game at about 24-10.
I would be happy with any victory at all.
Survive - Advance - Beat the Cheaters - Win the 'ship
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Ohio State easily left 17-21+ points off the board from their terrible RZ offense last 2 weeks. That is easily a bigger concern than anything solely attributed to McCord's deficiencies.
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