PISCATAWAY, N.J. _ The glorified scrimmage that was Saturday's game against Rutgers went about as expected.
Ohio State scored early and often, and rolled to a 56-21 victory at SHI Stadium.
A Rutgers victory would have ranked among the biggest upsets in the history of college football considering that the Scarlet Knights were 52-point underdogs to the No. 2 Buckeyes and haven't been competitive in any of their Big Ten games.
And yes, this was a mismatch. Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields threw for a career-high 305 yards and four touchdowns on 15-of-19 passing, and J.K. Dobbins ran for two scores.
Dobbins, who had 89 yards in 17 carries, played only in the first half. Fields and the rest of the starters took the day off after a touchdown drive made it 42-7 on the first possession of the third quarter.
Yet for all their dominance, the Buckeyes (10-0, 7-0 Big Ten) were not flawless.
They allowed their most points since the opener against Florida Atlantic.
Freshman Garrett Wilson muffed a punt that the Scarlet Knights (2-8, 0-7) recovered at the Buckeyes' 33 to set up a Rutgers touchdown late in the first quarter.
Dobbins was stuffed on third and fourth downs at the Rutgers 1-yard line to end one second-quarter drive.
Twice, the Buckeyes were penalized for having a player line up farther than 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage on kickoff coverage.
Ohio State's backups were spotty in the second half.
Quibbling, sure. But starting next week against Penn State, the Buckeyes will, finally, face competition that can make such issues matter.
On Saturday, they didn't. The Buckeyes needed only 2 minutes, 1 second to take a 14-0 lead, even though Rutgers got the opening kickoff.
Cornerback Shaun Wade was at the center of it. The third-year sophomore intercepted a Johnny Langan pass on Rutgers' first possession. The Buckeyes needed only four plays to go 40 yards, the final 18 when Dobbins made a nifty cutback.
Two plays later, Wade forced a fumble recovered by New Jersey native Jordan Fuller at the Rutgers' 33. Fields then threw three completions, the last two to Binjimen Victor, for the second touchdown.
The Buckeyes made it 21-0 with 6 minutes left in the opening quarter on an 8-yard Dobbins run after Chris Olave caught a 58-yard pass.
Those were all the points the Buckeyes defense needed. They were playing for the second game without suspended defensive end Chase Young, who returns next week. Cornerback Damon Arnette, who has played all year with a broken wrist, also was held out. Linebacker Baron Browning was ruled out Friday.
Ohio State didn't need either of them. Linebacker Malik Harrison had six tackles, including two for loss, to lead the charge against a Rutgers offense that could generate only 117 yards against Buckeye starters in the first half.
The Scarlet Knights' longest play in the first two quarters was their touchdown, a 26-yard run by Isaih Pacheco after the Wilson muff.
That score made it 21-7, but that proved to be Rutgers' one fleeting jab.
K.J. Hill caught a 35-yard pass from Fields on the first play of the second quarter, but then the Buckeyes faltered on their next two drives. The second came after Ohio State drove to the Rutgers' 1 before the Scarlet Knights stuffed Dobbins on consecutive plays to end the drive.
The Buckeyes did make amends on their next drive. They needed only 40 seconds to go 50 yards as Fields again connected with Victor for the score on a 24-yard completion.
Ohio State coach Ryan Day had Fields and the starters _ minus Dobbins _ open the second half. The Buckeyes went 82 yards in only five plays. Olave caught a 42-yard pass to set up a 14-yard touchdown catch by tight end Luke Farrell in the corner of the end zone.
Olave caught four passes for 132 yards, surpassing the 100-yard mark for the first time.
Ohio State scored twice with its backups in, a 4-yard pass from Chris Chugunov to Jake Hausmann for the tight end's first career touchdown. Jaelen Gill later scored on a 32-yard wide receiver screen in which he broke a couple tackles and carried would-be tacklers into the end zone.
Rutgers scored on a 45-yard pass from Langan to Bo Melton.
