The Ohio State Buckeyes are taking it to the Rutgers Scarlet Knights to the tune of 45-6 and Ohio State. Simply put — the Buckeye have looked fantastic. It was hard to judge the strides that the defense made last week because of the competition, but it is pretty clear today that this defense is making real, tangible improvement and will hopefully be a completely different unit by the time the Buckeyes take on other so-called title-contending Big Ten foes like Penn State and Michigan.
Let’s not forget though that Rutgers has been no slouch this year. Ohio State is much more talented than the Scarlet Knights as illustrated by the spread of over two touchdowns, but we got a glimpse of how good Rutgers can be as they almost upset the Michigan Wolverines last week.
There are so many things to evaluate with this game like the TreVeyon Henderson performance and injury, and Lathon Ransom and his consistent presence on defense. But the following three things are what have been most interesting to monitor.
Next…The Buckeyes are lights out on defense
The Buckeyes look great on defense
Ohio State stuffs Rutgers on fourth and will take over at midfield.
Aside from that one breakdown, this Buckeye defense has looked stout today.
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) October 2, 2021
The Buckeyes looked great on defense against the Akron Zips last week and we discounted those efforts a bit due to the competition. But this week Ohio State has followed up that strong performance with an even stronger look against a team that competed with Michigan just two weeks ago.
Next…The team overall has a different swag
Is Ohio State back?
Show no mercy, Ohio State needs a 50 point dusting to continue to cleanse the soul.
— jbook™ (@jbook37) October 2, 2021
Let’s be honest, our beloved Buckeyes have not looked like a playoff-caliber team this season, but we might be looking at a different team. Now, maybe I am exaggerating a bit, but there is definitely a positive difference between this team and the one we saw against Oregon.
Next…C.J. Stroud is QB1
C.J. Stroud looks good
Quite a statline from C.J. Stroud in his first game back at the helm. pic.twitter.com/H7iGaW90pf
— Griffin Strom (@GriffinStrom3) October 2, 2021
C.J. Stroud is has looked very, very good, going 14-of-18 for 273 yards and four touchdowns. More importantly, he didn’t throw any tentative passes or overshoot open guys like we saw the first few weeks. Stroud looks good and that week off clearly did him some good.
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