Evaluating Ohio State’s Performance Against Rutgers As Ramp-Up to Michigan Game Continues

Real Pod Wednesdays

Ohio State might be making a habit of winning ugly, but it still covered the spread in Piscataway.

The Buckeyes had their most competitive game ever against Rutgers this year but still came away with a 35-16 win, and we felt there was more good than bad to take away from Ohio State’s performance – even if it wasn’t the most prolific day for the Buckeyes’ passing offense, run defense or special teams.

We begin this week’s episode by sharing all of our takeaways from the Buckeyes’ performance against the Scarlet Knights. We follow that by making our predictions for this week’s home night game against Michigan State, looking at the other games this weekend that could shake up the College Football Playoff race and breaking down what we saw from both Ohio State basketball teams in their season openers on Monday.

The full rundown for this week’s show:

• 1:25: Rutgers is better than usual, so it wasn’t shocking the Buckeyes had to battle in Piscataway
• 3:29: TreVeyon Henderson further proves he’s one of Ohio State’s biggest game-changers
• 7:26: Ohio State’s run blocking improves as Donovan Jackson has his best game of the year
• 9:27: Kyle McCord didn’t play badly against Rutgers, he took what the defense gave him
• 16:04: Red-zone defense leads Buckeyes to victory
• 21:41: Ohio State’s run defense shows vulnerability, but has time to improve before The Game
• 25:21: Ty Hamilton, Jermaine Mathews Jr., Malik Hartford among defenders who stepped up
• 30:22: Parker Fleming’s seat heating up after latest special teams miscue
• 36:58: Ohio State should dominate Michigan State
• 41:24: Buckeyes can play it safe with injured players this week
• 43:05: This could be our best chance to see Tristan Gebbia and/or Lincoln Kienholz play this year
• 46:17: Score predictions for Ohio State vs. Michigan State
• 48:40: Michigan is in for a battle against Penn State in Happy Valley
• 51:07: We hope to see you at the Eleven Dubgate on Saturday
• 52:00: Georgia, Washington, Florida State and Oregon all face challenges this week
• 54:48: It’s just one game, but Ohio State men’s hoops has plenty to work on after Oakland battle
• 57:36: Roddy Gayle Jr., Zed Key and Scotty Middleton stood out in the season opener
• 1:03:05: Bruce Thornton didn’t have his best game, but he rose to the occasion late
• 1:04:47: We’ll learn more about Ohio State in a tough game Friday vs. Texas A&M
• 1:07:03: OSU women’s hoops must work on rebounding, 3-point shooting after season-opening loss