Before every game, we provide a preview of Ohio State football’s opponent for the upcoming week. It’s just an eight-game slate to the regular season, so there aren’t as many games to talk about, but we soldier on.
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 third game of the year is against a Rutgers team that is looking like an improved outfit under new/old head coach and former Urban Meyer Buckeye assistant Greg Schiano. It’s hard to see this thing playing out as a competitive contest, but that’s why they play the games.
Anyway, you still need to know the opponent, so here’s all you need.
Next … Rutgers all-time vitals
Rutgers Record
(1-1) Last Week: lost to Indiana 37-21
All-Time Record vs. Ohio State
0-6 (.000)
All-Time Vitals
Record: 655-669-42 , No. 92 All-Time
National Championships: None
Conference Championships: 1, No. 113 All-Time
Bowl Games: 10, No. 95 All-Time
Bowl Record: 6-4-0, No. 15 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 first Greg Schiano era was the best. The former Ohio State assistant 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 things ended on a high when Rutgers beat Kansas State 37-10 in the Texas Bowl.
Best Player Of All-Time
#NCAAFesp // #NFLesp // Ray Rice con los Rutgers Scarlet Knights: pic.twitter.com/ySs5TE9UJU
— NCAA Football – Esp (@ncaafesp) May 6, 2013
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 Head Coach
Greg Schiano leads rebuilding Rutgers football program in return to Ohio State https://t.co/xYjOdW52ON
— Columbus Dispatch (@DispatchAlerts) November 3, 2020
Greg Schiano – 69-68 overall in college, 68-67 at Rutgers
Offensive Style
With a new head coach comes a new offensive coordinator. Sean Gleeson wants to get Rutgers into a spread attack, but one that plays much like a pressing team in basketball. You’ll see Rutgers try to go up-tempo out of a spread attack and try to keep defenses on their heels. While it’s not extremely different than what most teams look like, it’ll be a faster type of attack than most once the personnel is in place.
Defensive Style
Schiano has reunited with his former defensive coordinator in Piscataway the first time around, Robb Smith. Back then, it was a 4-3 scheme, and that’s still in place, but with today’s offenses, the Rutgers defense will also utilize multiple looks and fronts instead of staying in its base look snap after snap. Look for the linebackers to be engaged in the running game and out in space as the strength of this team. Good luck stopping a dynamic Ohio State attack though.
Next … Player to watch and the Wildcat’s chances
Rutgers player to watch
Rutgers defensive leaders set tone for a strong performance in the victory over Michigan State. Tyshon Fogg, Mike Tverdov, Avery Young, and Tre Avery spoke about the unit’s approach and what this win meant to them. #RFootball https://t.co/1AGSCmHFV3
— On the Banks (@OTB_SBNation) October 25, 2020
Tyshon Fogg, LB — Rutgers might be trying to build things, but there’s one guy on the field that can play for almost anyone and it’s senior linebacker Tyshon Fogg. He’s arguably 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’s highly unlikely.
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 descend on the ‘Shoe and create havoc on the passing game.
Anything short of that, or something like eight turnovers by the Buckeyes mean this thing’s probably going to be over pretty fast.
