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It should come as no surprise that Ohio State is on a different level than Rutgers as a football program. The Buckeyes have outscored the Scarlet Knights 271-27 in their five meetings since Rutgers joined the Big Ten, an average of 54-5.
Ohio State won Saturday’s meeting 52-3 at Ohio Stadium. Perhaps nowhere was the gap between the teams more evident than on the lines, especially with OSU’s defensive line. The Buckeyes made themselves at home in Rutgers’ backfield and knocked out starting quarterback Artur Sitkowski on the final play of the first half.
Sitkowski’s status going forward is unknown but nj.com reported that the true freshman’s arm/shoulder injury might not be as bad at it appeared when he walked off at halftime:
Artur Sitkowski wincing and holding his shoulder as he walks to the locker room at halftime. The first half could not have gone worse for Rutgers. pic.twitter.com/OeekFDgI89
— Brian Fonseca (@briannnnf) September 8, 2018
In any event, the play which ended his game was just a small sample of what OSU’s talented front seven, in particular the D-line, did to an outmanned Rutgers front. Trying to block All-American defensive end Nick Bosa one-on-one with a tight end was not a good idea for Rutgers:
https://youtu.be/BVHxfTuKfas?t=859
Left tackle Tariq Cole, a preseason third-team All-B1G pick, lost several one-on-one battles to Bosa, like here:
https://youtu.be/BVHxfTuKfas?t=2691
Sitkowski wound up having both Bosa and defensive tackle Dre’Mont Jones in his face; small wonder he was backpedaling upon releasing this pass.
And if it wasn’t those two guys pressuring Sitkowski, it was defensive tackle Robert Landers blowing up everything on the inside and stopping running plays before they got started, like this:
https://youtu.be/BVHxfTuKfas?t=3139
It was inevitable that this kind of pressure would produce a turnover, and it happened when Sitkowski was pressured late in the second quarter. Kendall Sheffield grabbed the interception, picking off a tipped pass. The pass was tipped because it was too high for the intended receiver, thanks to all the pressure up front from the Buckeyes:
https://youtu.be/BVHxfTuKfas?t=4006
Sitkowski’s replacement, Giovanni Rescigno, started seven games for Rutgers last season so he had a bit of an experience edge on the starter. Rescigno had a bit more luck and got rid of passes quickly, but defensive end Chase Young caught up with him eventually:
https://youtu.be/BVHxfTuKfas?t=5779
The Buckeyes defense was much better against Rutgers than in their opener against Oregon State. OSU, ranked fourth in the newest Associated Press poll, will have to step up its game even more this week against No. 15 TCU. The Buckeyes didn’t do a lot of fancy stuff on defense in the first two games against overmatched opponents, but it will be interesting to see if they dial up more stunts, blitzes and the like against the Horned Frogs.
Longtime newspaper veteran Jim Tomlin is a writer and editor for saturdaytradition.com and saturdaydownsouth.com.