Before every game, we provide a preview of Ohio State football’s opponent for the upcoming week. It’s a twelve game slate to the regular season, so there’s plenty to talk about, and plenty of opponents to get up to speed on.
Of course, some you’ll know better than others.
So, if you want to impress your friends while watching the game, we’ve got your cheat code right here. We do the research, you drop nuggets. You win on Saturdays. It’s as simple as that.
Ohio State’s tenth game of the year is against a Rutgers team that is sorely outmatched and outmanned. There’s almost no way the Scarlet Knights stay competitive in this one short of an act of God, a virus strain breaking out in the Ohio State locker room, or an unscheduled, long and blustery blizzard.
But none of that will be in the cards, so this one could be one of the most lopsided Power Five conference games of the year. Anyway, you still need to know the opponent, so here’s all you need.
Next … Rutgers all-time vitals
Wisconsin Record
(2-7, 0-6); Last Week: lost to Illinois 38-10
All-Time Record vs. Ohio State
0-5- (.000)
All-Time Vitals
Record: 654-665-42 , No. 91 All-Time
National Championships: None
Conference Championships: 1, No. 112 All-Time
Bowl Games: 10, No. 94 All-Time
Bowl Record: 6-4-0, No. 16 All-Time
Consensus All-Americans: 4, No. 68 All-Time
Heisman Winners: 0
NFL Draft Picks: 63, No. 91 All-Time
Best All-Time Season
2006 – Rutgers doesn’t have a whole lot to sneeze at during its long and painful history, but there’s no doubt the Greg Schiano era was the best. The former head coach put the Scarlet Knights on the map and reinvigorated the program during his time in Piscataway.
The best season he directed was by far the 2006 one in which running back Ray Rice led the team to an 11-2 record. The team started with a 9-0 record and got all the way up to No. 6 in the BCS Standings. It ultimately dropped a couple of games, but ended on a high note by beating Kansas State 37-10 in the Texas Bowl.
Best Player Of All-Time
Ray Rice – RB (2005-2007) – The aforementioned running back Ray Rice helped bring the Scarlet Knights to relevancy. During his time in Piscataway, Rutgers went to three-straight bowl games and made it into the top ten in the national rankings.
Rice set a single-season program and Big East record in 2006 with 1,794 yards, and followed that up with a 2,000 yard season in 2007. He went on to have a long NFL career with the Baltimore Ravens.
Next … Head coach, offensive and defensive styles
Current (Interim) Head Coach
Nunzio Campanile – 1-4 overall
Offensive Style
Rutgers hired a new offensive coordinator over the offseason and the heavy pro-style is now gone. John McNulty believes his personnel is best suited to do what almost every team is doing these days, and spread things out a bit. You’ll still see some varied formations that look like the old Rutgers offense, but there’s much more spacing and attempts at mismatches in space than before. The problem is not the scheme, but the ability to execute.
Defensive Style
With the fingerprints of former Ohio State defensive coordinator Chris Ash all over the program, you’d think the defense would be mainly a 4-3 aggressive unit, and you’d be right — kind of.
Officially, the defense is still listed that way, but the team has morphed into more of a 3-4 scheme with an additional hybrid linebacker now patrolling the field. New defensive coordinator Andy Buh believes the team has to be able to cover in space, and so there it is. And with linebacker being the deepest position for the Scarlet Knights, it all makes sense.
That unit will be tested in this one.
Next … Player to watch and the Wildcat’s chances
Rutgers player to watch
Tyshon Fogg, LB — There hasn’t been too many positives to take from the 2019 season so far for Rutgers, but Fogg is one of them. He’s the team’s best defender and tackler on a linebacking unit we’ve already talked about. He’ll be used mostly to run stuff, but seems to be in and around the football whenever things stay on the ground. He could get plenty of opportunities to make tackles in this one.
Rutger Can Win The Game If …
…Simpy put, it can’t.
Okay, so technically the Scarlet Knights could pull off the shocker of all shockers, but it would take an avalanche of things to happen, most of which are otherworldly. Perhaps aliens come down and abduct the entire Ohio State offense, or a plague of locusts take over High Point Solutions Field and make life difficult on the Ohio State passing attack.
Anything short of that, or something like eight turnovers by the Buckeyes mean this thing’s going to be over really fast.
