Ohio State football: Previewing Saturday’s game vs. Rutgers

Who: Rutgers (1-0) at No. 4 Ohio State (1-0)

When: 3:30 p.m., Saturday

Where: Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio.

TV/Radio: Big Ten Network

Series history: Ohio State leads 4-0. Including shutouts in the last two meetings, Ohio State has outscored Rutgers 219-24 since the schools met for the first time in 2014.

Last game: Ohio State won 56-0 in Piscataway last season.

Coaches: Ohio State's Ryan Day won his first game as a head coach last week. He is filling for the suspended Urban Meyer for the first three games of the season. Chris Ash is 7-18 in two-plus seasons at Rutgers, his first head-coaching gig.

Ohio State notes: Ohio State is seeking to join Michigan as the only school in the FBS with 900 wins…. Ohio State's 721 total yards in a 77-31 win over Oregon State last week are the second-most in school history in one game… Dwayne Haskins set records for an OSU QB making his starting debut by throwing for 313 yards and five touchdowns… Mike Weber and J.K. Dobbins combined for 260 yards rushing last week, including 186 for Weber… Dre'Mont Jones and Nick Bosa each had two sacks to lead the OSU defense… Oregon State did most of its damage on seven plays. They accounted for 82 percent of the Beavers' yards… Ohio State has four players from New Jersey: starting safety Jordan Fuller (Old Tappen High School), graduate transfer quarterback Chris Chugunov (Montgomery High School) and freshmen defensive ends Javontae Jean-Baptiste (Bergan Catholic) and Tyler Friday (Don Bosco Prep)… Ohio State defensive coordinator Greg Schiano was 68-67 as head coach at Rutgers from 2001-11.

Rutgers notes: Ash was safeties coach and co-defensive coordinator at Ohio State for two seasons before becoming head coach at Rutgers… True freshman quarterback Art Sitkowski made his college debut last week, throwing for 205 yards and a touchdown… Rutgers last beat a ranked opponent in 2009 (Nov. 12 against USF)… The Scarlet Knights won three Big Ten games last season after going 0-9 in conference play the year before.

 

Quoted: Chris Ash on Ohio State: "The team is built exactly like you would want to build a team. Four years in a row, Rutgers and Ohio State have played in four years and hasn't been much of a game. So it's our job to go over there and try to play the best we can play and play better than what we've played, especially in the last couple years. We're going to have to go over and protect the football, protect the quarterback and be able to move the ball offensively. Defensively, we are going to have to stop the run. We are going to have to get some takeaways and not beat ourselves. Those are things we have not done in the last couple years on both sides of the ball against this opponent."

Next game: Ohio State will play TCU in Arlington, Texas, at 8 p.m. next Saturday. Rutgers plays at Kansas at noon.

Prediction: Ohio State 48, Rutgers 0

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