Game Preview: Ohio State vs Rutgers
November noon in the Shoe. Senior Day. One last lap in front of the home crowd before everything we’ve been circling on the calendar all year finally shows up in block M.
Top-ranked Ohio State enters the weekend 10–0, fresh off a 48–10 dismantling of UCLA that felt more like a controlled scrimmage than a late-season Big Ten game. The Buckeyes ran it better, kept the defense on cruise control, and even got a special teams touchdown for the first time in 15 years — all while Carnell Tate was in street clothes and Jeremiah Smith barely played a half.
Rutgers, meanwhile, comes in 5–5 (2–5 Big Ten), needing one more win to lock up bowl eligibility and keep Greg Schiano’s steady rebuild on track. The Scarlet Knights have a legitimately fun offense headlined by one of the Big Ten’s best backs in Antwan Raymond and a resurgent Athan Kaliakmanis at quarterback. But for all the progress on that side of the ball, their defense has cratered. Statistically, it’s one of the worst units in the country, and the single worst run defense in the FBS.
On paper, then, this looks familiar: overmatched visitor, massive point spread, and a roster gap you can see from low Earth orbit. But with The Game looming, Senior Day emotions running high, and some injury management to sort out, this isn’t just another Saturday. It’s the last tune-up before Michigan, the last chance to sharpen the run game against a defense that begs you to run it, and the last walk in the Shoe for a bunch of dudes who helped drag this program back to the mountaintop.
The stakes are simple: handle your business, come out healthy, and roll into Ann Arbor with everything still in front of you.
Know The Opponent:
Head Coach: Greg Schiano
2025 Record: 5–5 (2–5 Big Ten)
Conference: Big Ten
Location: Piscataway, NJ
Ohio State Preview
This Buckeye team has settled into a very specific identity: cold-blooded, methodical, and increasingly multiple.
Offense:
It still all starts with Julian Sayin. The true freshman field general is sitting north of 80% completions on the season and right around 2,500 passing yards, with 25 touchdown passes and only four interceptions. He’s been surgical from the pocket, patient against zone, and ruthless when he gets one-on-one matchups for his receivers. Even on an “off” day vs UCLA — 23-of-31 for 184 yards and a score — he was comfortably in control.
His favorite weapon, Jeremiah Smith, sits at 69 catches for 902 yards and 10 touchdowns despite being limited last week. Carnell Tate is right behind him at 39 grabs for 711 yards and seven scores, though he’s missed the last two games with lower-leg tightness. Those two give Ohio State the best 1–2 punch at wideout in the country… which is why Senior Day might be a day to let them stay in the hoodie and bucket hat ensemble one more time.
The real story — and the real opportunity — is on the ground. Ohio State is up to 161.8 rushing yards per game and 4.8 yards per carry on the season, but those numbers don’t quite capture the recent trajectory. Against UCLA, the Buckeyes ripped off 222 yards on 6.7 per carry, with three different backs averaging at least seven yards a pop. Freshman Bo Jackson has emerged as the headliner with 110 carries for 725 yards (6.6 per carry) and three touchdowns. Isaiah West and James Peoples have given this room real depth: West brings burst and balance, Peoples has a knack for finishing runs and, apparently, hurdling defenders straight into a highlight reel.
Up front, the offensive line is still a work in progress in the run game but rock solid in pass protection. Austin Siereveld, Luke Montgomery, Carson Hinzman, Tegra Tshabola and Phillip Daniels have allowed just five sacks all year while Sayin pushes the ball downfield at nearly 10 yards per attempt. Right guard remains the most scrutinized spot, with Josh Padilla working back from injury and Ethan Onianwa also in the mix. The next two weeks are about turning that spot from “fine” into “we don’t worry about it.”
Defense:
On the other side of the ball, Matt Patricia’s defense has been a weekly reminder of what “Silver Bullets” is supposed to mean.
Ohio State is leading the nation in both scoring and total defense, and it’s not smoke and mirrors. Teams are struggling just to function against this group. UCLA managed a grand total of 50 yards in the first half last week and didn’t run a play in Ohio State territory until the final two minutes of the third quarter.
Arvell Reese is the tone-setter at linebacker with 55 tackles, 10 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks, and his running mate Sonny Styles — a captain and Block “O” wearer on his Senior Day — has 57 stops, 3.5 TFLs, an interception and a forced fumble while wearing the green dot and running the show. Up front, Caden Curry (11.5 TFLs, 7 sacks) and Kenyatta Jackson Jr. have anchored a front that stops the run on the way to the quarterback. On the back end, Caleb Downs, Davison Igbinosun, Lorenzo Styles Jr. and Jaylen McClain have turned the secondary into a no-fly zone.
The goals for this week are straightforward:
Put the run game on repeat against a terrible rush defense.
Stay clean and sharp in protections and assignments.
Contain Raymond, limit explosives from Kaliakmanis, and let the defense continue to build muscle memory of dominance.
Most importantly: get the core guys — Sayin, Smith, Tate, Reese, Downs, etc. — to the locker room healthy and smiling.
Rutgers Preview
Schiano has done what Schiano does: raise the floor. Rutgers is no longer the automatic “check the box and move on” disaster it was when it joined the Big Ten. They’ve won enough to sniff three straight bowl seasons, they’re competent on offense, and they play hard.
But this particular version of the Scarlet Knights is wildly unbalanced. The offense is good enough to move the ball on almost anyone; the defense is bad enough to make anyone look like 2019 LSU.
If Rutgers is going to make anyone sweat, it won’t be because of its defense. It’ll be because their offense has quietly been pretty legit.
Offense:
Start with running back Antwan Raymond. He’s been a workhorse in the truest sense: 200 carries, 1,000 rushing yards on the nose, 11 touchdowns, and an average of 5.0 yards per carry. He’s fresh off a 41-carry, 240-yard day against Maryland that was the best rushing performance in the Big Ten this year. He runs with great vision, falls forward, and can handle a ridiculous volume of touches without fading.
Pair that with a resurgent Athan Kaliakmanis and you get something Rutgers hasn’t had in a while: balance. The fifth-year senior quarterback is having the best season of his career, completing 62.3% of his throws for 2,705 yards, 17 touchdowns and seven picks. He’s pushing the ball downfield more efficiently than he ever did at Minnesota, averaging 8.3 yards per attempt.
On the perimeter, KJ Duff has blossomed into one of the league’s top receivers, catching 53 passes for 923 yards and six scores. He’s a big-play threat and a true go-to guy. Ian Strong (48/716/5) and DT Sheffield (40/532/4) round out a surprisingly dangerous trio. The result: Rutgers ranks 39th nationally in total offense at 420.5 yards per game and a respectable 29.9 points per game.
If you drop this offense into a defense like Ohio State’s, we’d be talking about a dark-horse New Year’s Six contender. Unfortunately for Schiano…
Defense:
…Rutgers’ defense is a tire fire.
The Scarlet Knights are 107th in scoring defense, allowing 30 points per game, and 122nd in total defense at 425.5 yards allowed per contest. That’s bad, but the run numbers are where it truly goes off the rails.
Rutgers is giving up 6.6 yards per carry. That’s dead last in the FBS by a full yard per attempt. To put that in perspective: the gap between Rutgers and the second-worst run defense in the country (Georgia Southern) is the same as the gap between Georgia Southern and the 106th-ranked team. You’re basically spotting opponents a first down every two carries.
They’re not helping themselves in the pass rush either. Rutgers has only 10 sacks on the season — last in the Big Ten and 132nd in the country. When you can’t stop the run and you can’t generate pressure, you’re asking your back seven to cover for way too long against way too many clean pockets. That’s not a great recipe when Julian Sayin is the guy on the other side.
The Scarlet Knights will play hard. They will ride Raymond and take their shots to Duff. But if they’re going to hang around, it likely takes something borderline fluky: turnovers, special teams haymakers, or Ohio State playing one of its sloppiest games of the season.
Buckeye Spotlight
The Seniors and Draft Eligible Juniors. This week, the spotlight isn’t on one star – it’s on the group that’s about to hear “Carmen Ohio” in Ohio Stadium as players for the last time. Senior Day is always emotional, but this one feels a little heavier. This defense has been the backbone of Ohio State’s undefeated run, and a big chunk of that backbone is about to move on.
Start with Sonny Styles and Arvell Reese, the heartbeat of the Silver Bullets. Styles came in as the five-star kid from down the road and leaves as the Block “O” captain, green-dot signal caller, and tone-setter for the No. 1 defense in the country. Reese has gone from “flashy sophomore” to full-on star, living in opposing backfields and setting the physical standard every Saturday. Add in Caden Curry, who’s turned his first full year as a starter into a highlight tape of hustle plays, sacks, and TFLs, and Tywone Malone Jr., the New Jersey native who fought his way into the starting lineup and now gets to close his home career against his home-state school – it’s a core that changed the identity of this program up front.
On the back end, Davison Igbinosun and Lorenzo Styles Jr. have been the glue in a secondary that just doesn’t give up explosives. Igbinosun has quietly erased one side of the field all year, while Styles has done a little bit of everything – nickel snaps, run support, special teams, and now the memory of a 100-yard kickoff return to go with his Senior Day walk. Then there’s the “probably done after this year” junior group: guys like Caleb Downs, Reese, and maybe even Carnell Tate, who’ve already played themselves into NFL conversations and could be making their last run out of the tunnel even without the senior tag next to their names.
Saturday is about taking care of business against Rutgers, but it’s also about recognizing that this is the group that dragged Ohio State back to being a defensive standard-bearer and a mentally tougher team. One more dominant performance, one more round of fireworks, and one last lap in the Shoe before the season’s real defining chapter begins in Ann Arbor.
Scarlet Knight Spotlight
Antwan Raymond. There’s no mystery here. If you’re circling one guy in scarlet instead of scarlet and gray, it’s No. 2 in the backfield.
Raymond is the engine. When Rutgers has looked competent, it’s been because he’s dragged them there. 200 carries. 1,000 yards. 11 scores. A 240-yard game when everyone in the stadium knew he was getting the ball. He’s the latest in a nice little Schiano tradition at tailback, following Isiah Pacheco and Kyle Monangai into “oh, that dude can really play” territory.
For Ohio State’s defense, this is less about “can we stop him?” and more about “how do we want to stop him?” Patricia could decide to squeeze the life out of the box and dare Kaliakmanis to win one-on-one outside, or he could play it a little lighter and rely on the front seven doing what it’s done all year: fitting gaps, tackling well, and swarming to the ball.
Either way, if you look up in the third quarter and Raymond is stuck in the 18-carries-for-61-yards zone, it’s a wrap. Rutgers doesn’t have the defense to win a shootout, and they’re not built to live in third-and-long.
Water Cooler Stat of the Game
6.6 — The yards per carry Rutgers is allowing this season.
That’s not just bad, that’s cartoonish. It’s the worst mark in the FBS by a full yard. For fun: if Ohio State simply hits that average on 40 carries, that’s 264 rushing yards before you even start talking about Sayin’s arm.
If the Buckeyes are anywhere near that number on Saturday — even with a healthy rotation and backups getting late work — it’s going to feel less like a football game and more like a going-away present for Senior Day.
Prediction
On one level, this has all the ingredients of a classic trap spot: Senior Day distractions, a massive point spread, an offense with a couple of legit weapons, and the biggest game of the year sitting seven days away.
But if this season has shown us anything, it’s that this Ohio State team doesn’t do “trap.” Ryan Day has hammered the “one week at a time” message since August, and the roster has responded with the kind of professional, businesslike performances we’ve been begging to see for years.
Expect Rutgers to come out with a lot of Raymond early, hoping to shorten the game and keep Sayin on the sideline. They’ll mix in play-action shots to Duff and some RPOs to stress the linebackers. For a drive or two, they might move it between the 20s.
Then the Silver Bullets will do what they’ve done all year: adjust, squeeze, and smother. Patricia’s front will key Raymond, force Kaliakmanis into obvious passing situations, and let the pass rush and secondary take it from there. A couple of three-and-outs later, the dam breaks.
Offensively, look for Day and Brian Hartline to lean run-heavy early, especially if Smith and Tate are in load-management mode again. Bo Jackson and friends should find daylight between the tackles against that porous front, and once Rutgers safeties start inching closer to the line, Sayin will get his chance to drop a few dimes to Brandon Inniss, Max Klare, and the young wideouts.
The other subplot: playing time. If this goes the way it should, Lincoln Kienholz and the second-team offense should get a full fourth quarter, and some of the younger defenders will have a chance to put good film out there before depth really matters in December.
Another November Saturday, another chance to check boxes: style points, health, and momentum. Then all eyes finally, officially, turn north.
Ohio State 45 – Rutgers 10
Photo Credit: The Sporting News